The Vow
by dragonflybeach
Summary: Our favorite ginger twins were managing mischief long before they arrived at Hogwarts, such as convincing 5 year old Draco Malfoy to make an Unbreakable Vow to marry Luna Lovegood when he grew up. No one took it seriously, until Draco tried to marry someone else. PS - Fred is alive. At least until the Malfoys get a hold of him...
1. Chapter 1

A/N - Yes, I'm still working on The Prisoner and Dragon's Song. I just have rabid plot bunnies that keep coming up with more and more ideas.

* * *

"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, may I have a word?" the healer asked politely.

"Of course." Lucius murmured, rising to his feet and extending a hand to help his wife up.

"What about me?" a young woman in a wedding dress practically screeched. "I'm his fiancée! It was my wedding he collapsed during!"

"I'm sure the healer will speak with you in a moment." Her father sighed.

The patient's parents followed the healer into a private sitting room, where he gestured for them to be seated on the loveseat, while he took the chair across from them.

"It's bad, isn't it?" Mrs. Malfoy asked, wringing her hands.

"Well, that's going to depend on your definition of bad." The healer shrugged. "Your son is currently being held under a stasis charm to prevent his condition from deteriorating. But we must find the source of the illness before we can reverse the stasis and wake him. You say he had been in excellent health until the past day or two, when he complained of blinding headaches, nausea, and vomiting? Then collapsed during his wedding, and was brought here with an irregular heart rate and terribly high fever?"

"Yes, but we thought he was just nervous about the wedding." His father replied with a frown.

"He has all the textbook symptoms of someone breaking an Unbreakable Vow." The healer informed them. "I had one of the staff mind healers to search his memories to see if we could possibly find one." He waved his wand, and pensieve floated from atop the cabinet in the corner to rest in the middle of the coffee table between them. "We found one, very deeply buried. Apparently it was made so long ago, young Mr. Malfoy has forgotten."

The healer fished a small glass vial from his inside pocket, and opened it to extract a silvery thread of memory, which he added to the pensieve. He nodded and gestured to the parents, who looked at one another in confusion and apprehension before wordlessly placing their faces to the surface of the water.

They found themselves in the magical portion of the village of Ottery St. Catchpole. Draco, looking no more than five or six years old, told his mother he was walking over to the candy section of the store. He was selecting chocolate truffles when someone spoke to him.

"You can't eat all that. You'll get a stomach ache." A red haired boy about the same age informed Draco. The newcomer was flanked by two slightly older identical boys, also with red hair and freckles.

"You're just jealous because you can't afford it." Draco smirked.

"How do you know…"

"we can't afford …"

"chocolate or whatever else we fancy…"

"around here? You don't…"

"even know who we are." The two older boys asked, one stopping in mid-sentence and the other starting exactly where the other left off, as if this were a rehearsed comedy routine.

"I do so!" little Draco protested. "You have red hair and shabby clothes. You're the Weasleys. I've heard my father talk about you."

"You can't just judge people like that." One of the twins informed him.

"Yeah, if you did, we could say you're a Lovegood." The other continued.

"Albino hair…"

"Grey eyes…"

"Pale skin …"

"Crazy ideas … "

"I don't know what you're talking about." Draco scowled, interrupting another round of the twins' back and forth conversation.

"Her. Luna." The smaller ginger boy pointed at a girl sitting crosslegged on the floor, with a picture book upside down in her lap.

She looked up at the sound of her name. "Hello." She smiled.

"See?" one of the twins pointed out. "You kind of look like her."

"No I don't." Draco frowned.

"Do too." The other twin answered. "We could …"

"Judge you based…"

"On what you look like…"

"And we would think you were a Lovegood." The older boy concluded with a smug look and folded his arms across his chest.

"It's different." Draco argued. "You're a family. I don't even know that girl."

"You could be her family one day." One of the twins informed him.

"No I can't." Draco shook his head. "I'm a Malfoy. I'm not a … whatever she is."

"You could marry her." A twin told him.

"Then she would be your family." The other answered.

"She would be a Malfoy." The first one nodded.

Little Draco's brow creased as he looked from the Weasleys to the girl on the floor. "My father will find me someone to marry."

"That's the craziest..."

"Thing I've ever heard." The twins informed him.

"You really should get to pick your own wife." The smaller boy nodded.

"Why should I want to marry her?" Draco asked.

The girl on the floor was now looking up, watching them with her head tilted.

"Because she's cool." The smallest boy told him. "She has two crups, a kneazle, a ferret, a toad, a jobberknoll, and a fire crab as pets. And she lives in a round house."

"Wow." Draco's eyes widened. "A round house?"

The little girl nodded.

"And all those pets?" he asked.

She nodded again, standing gracefully to walk over to the four boys.

"That is cool." Draco agreed. "My dad has two hunting dogs but he won't let me play with them. He says it will make them soft."

"You could come to my house and play with the crups, or any of the other creatures. Even the fire crab is rather tame, as long as he's just been fed." she said.

"I like ferrets." Draco smiled shyly.

"She's a lot of fun." the girl told him. "Her name is Dancy and she does tricks for food."

"See?" one of the twins began. "You could..."

"Marry Luna and..."

"Live in the round house with all the creatures..."

"and not be stuck with whoever your father picks."

Draco made a face. "My father would probably pick Pansy or Daphne. Pansy is mean and Daphne is such a baby."

"So Luna would be a much better choice." one of the twins encouraged.

Draco nodded. "But I don't get to pick. My father gets to pick."

"That's not fair." the little ginger boy shook his head.

"You could pick if you really wanted to." one of the twins suggested.

"How?" Draco's face scrunched up curiously.

"Make an Unbreakable Vow to marry Luna." the twin suggested. "Then your father has to let you marry her, because you already promised."

"Ooooooh, George, remember what Dad said?" the little ginger piped up. "He said you're not allowed to have people make Unbreakable Vows."

"No, he said we're not allowed to have _you_ make Unbreakable Vows." the twin smirked.

"He's not related, so he doesn't count." the other twin agreed.

"Luna, would you want to marry him?" the first twin asked her.

"Can we have pudding every night?" Luna asked.

Draco nodded. "I like pudding."

"And maybe a winged horse one day." she suggested.

"Winged horses are cool." he nodded again.

"Okay, I'll marry you." she agreed.

"Oh, good. You ... what's your name?" a twin asked.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy." Draco answered proudly.

"Give me your arm." the twin extended Draco's arm, while the other twin took Luna's arm and clasped it to Draco.

"Now, repeat after me." one twin pulled out a wand.

"Where did you get that?" the little ginger asked, his eyes widening.

"From the cupboard in Mum's room. She has it put up for Percy when he goes to Hogwarts." the twin shrugged.

"I'm not going to Hogwarts. I'm going to Durmstrang." Draco informed them.

"That's nice." the girl answered. "They have dragons there. Are you related to any dragons, or are you just named after them?"

"I'm named after a constellation." he answered proudly.

"What's that?" the little gignger asked.

"A bunch of stars that someone thought looked like a dragon. I think it looks more like a snake." Draco told him.

"Let's get on with this." the twin without the wand rolled his eyes.

"Do you, Draco Malfoy, promise to marry Luna Lovegood when you get old enough?" the twin with the wand pointed it at their joined hands.

"Yes." Draco answered, yelping and trying to pull back when a flame circled their wrists.

"It won't hurt you." the twin told him. "As long as you keep your promise. Now, do you vow to consummate the marriage?"

"What's con-stum-mate?" the little ginger asked.

"I don't know." the other twin shrugged. "But Aunt Muriel said when Cousin Barney married that Matilda lady that it wasn't a proper marriage because it was never consummated because Barney is a flamer."

"What's a flamer?" the little brother asked.

"I think it's like a phoenix." the girl answered.

"We're related to birds? Wicked." the youngest brother grinned.

"We'll worry about that later." the twin without the wand rolled his eyes again.

"Do you promise to consummate the marriage so it will be a proper marriage?" the twin with the wand asked Draco again.

Draco nodded, still watching in fascination as the flames circled their arms.

"Luna, do you promise to marry Draco and consummate him and be a proper wife?" the twin continued.

"Yes, as long as we have pudding every night." she replied solemnly.

Draco nodded again, still watching the flames.

"I now bind you in an Unbreakable Vow." the twin flicked the wand, causing the flames to shoot out toward their shoulders, across toward their hearts, and then disappear.

With The Vow made, the five children then turned their attention to debating the best candy the store carried, as if nothing had ever happened.

"There you are." a petite lady with light brown hair walked over and took Luna by the hand. "I've told you not to wander off. Nargles could steal you."

"I'm too big, Mummy." Luna giggled. "Bye Draco. Bye Fred and George and Ron." she called as she was led away.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy!" Narcissa stepped into the picture, snatching up her son. "What on earth are you doing? Haven't I told you to stay away from strange children? You could end up with Dragon Pox or Hoof and Mouth Disease!"

Draco waved to the red haired boys as he was carried away. "Mother, I met this girl. She has blonde hair and grey eyes like me and lives in a round house and has a pet ferret and one day I'm going to marry her."

"Draco, no one has a round house." his mother informed him.

"Come on, let's find Mum." one of the twins suggested.

The memory ended, and the Malfoys found themselves sitting wide eyed across from the healer.

"Now we believe the reason he has survived so far is due to the fact that a child was the bonder. The Vow wasn't bonded sufficiently to kill him, but strongly enough that he must honour his commitment." the healer explained.

"So he has to marry this girl and consummate the marriage?" Lucius asked, what little colour he had draining from his face.

"Yes, and have pudding every night." the healer agreed.

"Oh dear Merlin, it's the mad girl from the cellar." Narcissa moaned.


	2. Chapter 2

"Surely there must be a way to cancel this foolishness." Lucius spluttered.

"Well, no. Not really. That's the whole purpose of calling it an Unbreakable Vow." the healer pointed out. "However, there is a possibility that we could find some sort of loophole. I've taken the liberty of forwarding a copy of the memory to the best cursebreaker I know, in case there is some way out of or around the Vow."

"Very good." Lucius agreed. "Who is this man? I'd like to speak with him."

"An old Hogwarts classmate of mine." the healer scribbled something on a parchment and handed it to the patient's father. "He became a cursebreaker for Gringott's. His name is Bill Weasley."

Mr. Malfoy's hopeful expression was replaced with annoyance.

"Bill said he hopefully could let us know something in a day or two." the healer continued obliviously. "Meanwhile, I think the best plan may be to go ahead and break the bethrothal arrangement between your son and Miss Greengrass. Then at least we can wake him and assess his condition from there."

"You do realize that if we break the marriage contract, there is a significant monetary compensation due to the bride's family?" Mrs. Malfoy asked.

"Perhaps, if you explain the situation, Mr. Greengrass would be willing to wait until he hears the cursebreaker's response before demanding payment." the healer suggested. "But if there is no way around the Vow, you're going to be obligated for that payment at some point. Otherwise, it's your son's life."

The Malfoys looked at one another.

"Very well. We'll speak with Robert and Cassandra." Lucius nodded.

"Perhaps I should send them in here." the healer suggested.

"Please." Narcissa smiled tightly.

The healer left, and returned a minute later, escorting Daphne and her parents. He flicked his wand, bringing in another chair from somewhere down the hall, and politely excused himself.

"Oh, no." Daphne moaned. "Draco's going to die and I'm going to be a widow before I'm even a wife."

"Maybe it's not too late to pick the other daughter." Lucius muttered under his breath.

Daphne's mother reached over to take her daughter's hand. "Let's just wait and see what the healer had to say." She looked at Narcissa as if waiting for confirmation that Draco was going to die.

Lucius took a deep breath and let it out before turning to address Daphne's father. "There's no easy way to say this. Apparently Draco was tricked into making an Unbreakable Vow to marry someone else when he was a small child. We have a cursebreaker looking into the legitimacy of the Vow, and of course we will have our solicitors look into the legality of such a thing."

"I see." Robert Greengrass nodded, drawing his lips together tightly. "Very well. So where does that leave us in the meantime?"

"We need to break the engagement for now." Lucius sighed. "We need to be able to wake Draco, because we're going to need him conscious to sort all this out. Naturally, if we can find a way to subvert the Vow, we will re-instate the marriage contract between him and Daphne. Of course we will compensate you for whatever you've spent on the wedding that had to be cancelled."

Mr. Greengrass looked at his wife, who nodded. "Certainly we will allow you the opportunity to rectify this situation." Cassandra told the Malfoys. "We shall hope that everything can be sorted promptly and perhaps the wedding rescheduled within the next week or so. May I ask, however, whom it is he vowed to marry?"

Narcissa shook her head, twisting the handkerchief she clutched. "It's too horrible to think about. She is completely unsuitable. The curebreaker simply must find a way to extract Draco from this Vow."

Cassandra paled. "It's a mudblood then?"

"Almost as bad. A blood traitor. A _destitute_ blood traitor, even." Lucius replied with a hint of irritation.

Mr. Greengrass shook his head. "We shall hope that the cursebreaker is successful. Now. What do we need to do for Draco in the meantime?"

The two sets of parents made their way to Draco's room, trailed by his fiancee, who looked more aggravated than aggrieved by that point. The healer fell into step behind them.

The Greengrass family arranged themselves down the left side of the bed, while Draco's parents and the healer lined up on the right with the healer closest to the head of the bed.

"Draco." Lucius cleared his throat before continuing. "We are cancelling the marriage contract with Miss Greengrass, as we have become aware that it is in ... violation ... of an Unbreakable Vow you have made prior."

There was a slight hum of magic in the room, and the patient seemed to relax almost visibly.

The healer cast a quick diagnostic spell. "His fever is already coming down."

"Good." Narcissa sighed.

"Let's give him about five minutes to stabilize, and then I'll try to remove the stasis and wake him." the healer looked over at the Greengrass family. "We should try to minimize upsetting him as much as possible until we're certain his heart rate will remain stable. It may be best if he speaks with his parents alone first."

"But I'm his fiancee." Daphne repeated for at least the dozenth time that day.

"Yes, and you will never be his wife if you kill the boy before you get him down the aisle." her father huffed. "Come along now, and you can speak with him privately later."

"You can't tell me what to do any more." she folded her arms. "I'm twenty one years old."

"Fine, go get a job and move out." her father shrugged, leading his wife toward the door.

Daphne suddenly found a reason to listen to her father and followed him out the doorway.

The healer cautiously checked Draco's vital signs twice more before casting the counter charm to remove the stasis. The patient's eyelids fluttered several times before finally opening slowly.

"Mr. Malfoy?" the healer addressed. Draco slowly turned his head toward the man.

"Do you know where you are?" the healer continued.

"I hope I'm in St Mungo's." the patient grumbled.

"Do you remember what happened to you?" the healer pressed.

Draco's brow creased. "I was getting married. I hadn't felt well all day, and right when the officiant asked if I took Daphne to be my lawfully wedded wife, it suddenly got worse, and then everything went black."

The healer nodded. "You were very ill when they brought you here. How do you feel now?"

"Better." Draco answered. "But a while I ago, I thought I would have to get better to die." his gaze flicked from his mother to the healer. "What happened to me?"

The healer hesitated, looking toward the Malfoy parents, which caused Draco to try to sit up. "Tell me!" he demanded.

Lucius put his hand on his son's shoulder, pushing him gently back onto the bed. "Draco, do you remember going to Leicester's Wizarding Emporium with your mother when you were about five years old?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "I've been there at least dozen times in my life, Father."

"On the particular occasion I am referring to, you spoke with some other children in the candy section of the store." Lucius continued frowning.

"I don't know. Why? Did one of them curse me?" Draco asked.

"In a manner of speaking." his father nodded.

"Just tell me already!" Draco shouted.

"The Weasley twins coerced you into making an Unbreakable Vow to marry someone!" Lucius roared back.

The younger man looked at his father for a long moment. "That's not funny, Father." he finally said.

"I completely agree." Lucius folded his arms. "It is not funny at all."

"You're serious about this?" Draco arched one eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yes." Lucius nearly spat the word.

"Who am I supposed to marry?" Draco asked.

"Luna Lovegood." his father ground out.

Draco burst into laughter. "You must be barking mad."

"Draco, dear, it's true." his mother sighed.

"How is that possible?" the young man looked from one of his parents to the other.

"The Weasleys and the Lovegoods live outside Ottery St Catchpole." his mother shrugged. "Obviously, we were all shopping on the same day ... "

"No," Draco shook his head. "How is it possible for a five year old to make an Unbreakable Vow?"

"Obviously your mother wasn't supervising you properly." Lucius drawled.

"You're blaming me for this?" Narcissa whirled on her husband. "I certainly couldn't leave him with his father. You know, the man who allowed him to ride a Nimbus _alone_ and fall off and break both his arms when he was four years old!"

"If there is such a thing as reincarnation, perhaps you should both stick with houseplants next time!" Draco raged. "Meanwhile, how can a child make an Unbreakable Vow, and who was the binder?"

"One of the Weasley twins was the binder." Lucius told him. "Apparently he had stolen a wand from his mother's cupboard. As for the propriety of the bond, we have a cursebreaker looking into the matter."

"The memory is here," the healer held up the glass vial. "if you'd like to see it in a bit."

Draco nodded. "I think I would. What are we going to do about this?"

"As I said, we have a cursebreaker looking into ways to get out of the vow." his father answered. "I'll be contacting our solicitor in the morning to see if there's anything we can do from a legal standpoint."

"What exactly did I promise?" Draco asked.

"That you would marry Luna Lovegood when you were old enough, consummate the marriage, and have pudding every night." His mother told him. "But I'm sure we can void the agreement somehow. You were only five years old."

"I didn't vow to go in search of crumpled humdingers or anything, did I?" Draco rolled his eyes.

"No." his father frowned.

"That's something, at least." Draco muttered.

A healer's assistant tapped on the door.

"Miss Greengrass has sent two owls demanding to know when she will be allowed to see her fiance." the woman informed the group. "She stated the next would be a howler to the medical director."

"Maybe I should marry Lovegood after all." Draco snorted.

* * *

Even though he insisted he was feeling much better, the healer insisted on admitting Draco to the hospital overnight for observation.

Bill Weasley came first thing the next morning.

"I hope you have good news." Lucius looked at the redhead suspiciously.

"Not exactly." Weasley sighed.

Lucius flicked his wand at the bedside table, tranfiguring it into something resembling a conference table, and conjured chairs around it. He then gestured for everyone to be seated.

"It looks like the whole Vow hinges on the word 'proper.'" Bill informed them. "Both children vowed to have a 'proper' marriage." he spread several parchments on the table. "English Wizarding Law is based on the decrees and rulings of Merlin and the accepted practices that followed. There are several references to a 'proper' marriage in Merlin's writings. According to these, a proper marriage means both parties intend to stay married for the rest of their lives and attempt to have children. Because both children agreed to a proper marriage, that eliminates the possibility of getting married and then immediately divorced."

"Well what else can we do?" Draco burst out. "You have to be able to do something! You can't expect me to marry Looney Lovegood!"

"Believe me, I've been trying, because I don't want to see her end up married to you!" Bill shouted back.

"All this emotion is not going to help …" Lucius began, but they spoke over him.

"At least I can afford to pay someone to keep up with her shoes!" Draco shoved his chair back.

"Right up until you let the Death Eaters into the house to kill her!" Bill leaped to his feet as well.

"Weasley." Draco snapped, and then deflated. "Look." he sighed. "I'm ... I'm sorry." He looked at table. "I didn't know they were going to bring the werewolf. They told me they just wanted Dumbledore and no one else would get hurt."

"And you believed that?" Bill asked irritably.

"I made an Unbreakable Vow to marry a total stranger when I was five." Draco made a face.

"Point taken." Bill sighed.


	3. Chapter 3

Bill left shortly afterwards, promising he would continue to look into any way around or out of the Vow.

Draco suddenly remembered something. "Lovegood knows something about this. She sent me an owl a few days ago. I don't remember exactly what it said, but she warned me about getting married."

Lucius nodded. "We needed to speak with her anyway."

An owl was dispatched, demanding that Miss Lovegood come to the hospital immediately. She arrived half an hour later, wearing a purple flowered top, pink and yellow striped pants, and green muggle high top sneakers, with radishes dangling from her ears and wildflowers apparently stuck at random in her hair.

"Hello Draco." she smiled pleasantly as she breezed in. "I'm sorry that you are feeling poorly. Perhaps my warning was justified." She smiled in the direction of his parents and extended her hand. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. It's nice to properly meet you. When we met before, we weren't able to shake hands because I was tied up."

Lucius cautiously shook the young woman's hand, while Narcissa backed away, watching with wide eyes.

"What did you do to me, Loony?" Draco demanded.

She tilted her head. "I haven't done anything to you lately. Were you referring to back in my fifth year and your sixth when I charmed your potions cauldron to play 'I'm a Little Teapot' whenever you put anything in it?"

"You did that?" Draco's face darkened. "I thought it was Potter. I hexed his hair orange to match Weasley's and got detention for a week."

"You were always in a bad mood that year." she shrugged. "I was trying to cheer you. So if it wasn't the cauldron you meant, was it when I was staying in your cellar and I charmed your shoes to squeak?"

"Why did you that?" he snarled. "Those were my favorite shoes and I threw them away because they made noise!"

"I just wanted to know when it was you coming down the stairs." she answered innocently.

"Could we stop blathering about childish pranks and discuss this damnable vow?" Lucius thundered.

"Oh, yes." she nodded. "There is that."

"The Vow wasn't real, was it?" Draco challenged. "You put some curse on the letter you sent me last week to make me thing I was dying from breaking an Unbreakable Vow!"

"No." she shook her head. "There were no curses, charms, or hexes on the letter. Whatever happened to you for not honouring your end of the Vow, that was the Vow."

"You cannot seriously expect me to believe that an Unbreakable Vow made between two children more than fifteen years ago is binding!" Draco raged.

"I do hope you won't shout so much when we're married." she answered calmly.

"Get this through your head, Loony." Draco was furious. "I am NOT going to marry you. Ever!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, his eyes rolled backwards in his head, and he collapsed to the floor.

Luna looked from Draco's form sprawled in the floor to his parents, standing by in horror. "He really should stop doing that." she said.

Narcissa finally came to her senses enough to scream. A healer and two assistants rushed into the room, quickly assessing the patient and levitating him back onto the bed.

The healer reinstated the stasis charm before turning to the family.

"His fever is back, and his heart rate is off the scale again." she informed them. "We were about to let him go home. What happened?"

"He announced he was breaking his Unbreakable Vow." Luna informed the woman, staring at a spot on the wall with rapt interest.

"That would do it." the healer rolled her eyes and left the room.

"Miss Lovegood," Lucius addressed her. "Could you please send for your father? I believe we're going to need to discuss this matter with him."

"Certainly." she rose from her chair, but the door burst open before she could cross the room.

Harry, Ron, and Neville stood in the middle of the room, wands drawn.

"Ah." Lucius remarked disparagingly. "Our newly minted aurors. I would ask you to arrest this woman for what she's done to my son, but I believe that would be a conflict of interest, Mr. Weasley, as you were directly involved."

"What are you on about?" Harry asked at the same time Ron asked "What was I involved in?" and Neville asked "What are you doing to Luna?"

"You really must learn to speak one at a time." Lucius sighed. _"We_ have not done anything to Miss Lovegood. _She_ is the cause of this." he pointed at Draco laying on the bed. "She and those insufferable Weasley twins."

"What have you done to Fred and George?" Ron demanded.

"We have not done anything!" Lucius flared. "Can you not get it through your thick skulls that we are the injured party in this situation? Since when do aurors storm into the hospital rooms of innocent people shouting and creating a disturbance?"

"We were called because Luna's father was concerned for her safety." Neville's eyes flicked from Lucius to Narcissa, who watched everything with a polite disinterest, to Draco, who remained unconscious. "All right, so tell us what is going on here."

"This ... this ...common _strumpet,"_ Narcissa pointed at Luna. "and Mr. Weasley's two juvenile delinquent brothers coerced our poor Draco into making an Unbreakable Vow to marry her."

"When?" Harry asked, folding his arms.

"What's a strumpet?" Ron asked over the top of him.

"How dare you speak about Luna that way?" Neville snapped, taking a step forward.

"It's all right for them to call my brothers juvenile delinquents?" Ron turned to Harry, who was watching Neville and Lucius glare at each other.

"Your brothers _were_ juvenile delinquents." Harry reminded him.

"Yeah, well, there is that." Ron nodded.

"As best we can determine, a month or two prior to Draco's sixth birthday." Lucius answered, continuing to stare down Neville.

"So you're saying," Harry frowned. "that Draco made an Unbreakable Vow when he was five years old to marry Luna, and that has resulted in his present condition?"

"Yes" Lucius' answer was clipped.

"What do the twins have to do with anything?" Harry asked.

"The two of them convinced Draco to make the vow. One of them was the binder." Lucius drawled, still staring into Neville's eyes.

Ron burst into laughter, causing Neville and Lucius to both turn and look at him.

"The twins tried to get me to make an Unbreakable Vow when I was five. Dad caught us in time and stopped it. Fred said his left butt cheek has never been the same afterwards." Ron told them.

"Does your family frequently discuss butt cheeks?" Lucius asked in disgust.

"Only when the subject comes up." Ron shrugged.

"Arthur Weasley beat his children?" Narcissa murmured softly.

"Obviously he didn't beat them enough." Lucius sighed. "Where is Xeno Lovegood? We do need him here to discuss this properly."

"He's waiting for us to contact him to let him know his daughter is safe." Neville resumed glaring at Lucius. "For obvious reasons there is some concern about that matter whenever the Malfoy family is involved."

"Please send for him." requested Lucius. "Apparently we are going to need to negotiate a marriage contract between my son and his daughter to wake Draco again."

"Over my dead body." Neville growled.

"That condition would be quite acceptable." Lucius smirked.

"Miss Lovegood," Narcissa said suddenly. "Draco said something about you sending him an owl last week. What was that about?"

"Fred saw the announcement in the Prophet that Draco was getting married." Luna smiled. "He flooed to ask me if I remembered making the Vow. I vaguely did, but I wasn't sure that it was binding due to our age and the fact Fred was the binder. Fred was only eight. I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to warn Draco just in case." She looked over at the hospital bed. "It looks like it is binding."

"You can't possibly be serious about going through with this." Harry shook his head, looking at Luna. "I mean, can't you refuse, even if he promised to marry you?"

"I vowed too." Luna informed them. "I vowed to be a proper wife." She looked over at Draco's mother. "Does that mean I have to wear shoes every day?"

"Yes." Narcissa groaned.

"Well there you have it." Luna shrugged. "Obviously neither one of us thought this through very well."

"Bill Weasley is working on a way to cancel or circumvent the vow." Lucius informed them. "I've been told he's the best cursebreaker available."

"That's true, and it's not just because he's my brother." Ron agreed.

"Luna, would you please send for your father?" Lucius asked again.

"Certainly." she skipped out of the room and down the hall to send the owl.

She returned a few moments later.

"I'm sure the three of you can go back to what you were doing." she told the young aurors. "If the Malfoys try to hurt me in the middle of a hospital, I would be in exactly the right place."

"We are not going to hurt anyone in the middle of a hospital or anywhere else." Lucius snorted. "What do you think we are, monsters?"

"Seriously?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes. "Do you want me to answer that?"

"Forget it." Lucius huffed.

Luna's father came in shortly afterward. "What is all this about?" he asked.

"Your daughter and the Weasley twins apparently tricked my son into making an Unbreakable Vow to marry her." Lucius informed Xeno with a death glare.

"That's absolutely preposterous." Mr. Lovegood insisted.

"That's what I thought." Lucius snipped.

"There's no way my daughter would want to marry you son after being locked in your cellar!" Xeno continued.

"No, this far precedes your daughter's unfortunate stay in the Manor. They apparently made this vow when Draco was five years old." Narcissa sighed.

"A five year old child can make an Unbreakable Vow? Fascinating. I'll have to write an article about that for The Quibbler to warn other parents." Xeno's eyed widened.

"The point is, this marriage obviously cannot take place." Lucius frowned.

"Well I agree, but how are we going to stop it?" Xeno asked.

"We have Bill Weasley who is supposedly the best cursebreaker available working on that part. But if you have any suggestions, feel free to make them." Lucius stomped back over to Draco's bedside to look at his son.

"How did we get past the Vow this far?" Mr. Lovegood asked.

Lucius turned to face him. "What do you mean?"

"Your son was on the verge of marrying someone else, and Luna has been dating Neville here on and off for the past three years." Xeno looked back and forth between Draco and Luna as he spoke.

Lucius crossed the room to stand in front of Luna with his hands on his hips. "You betrothed yourself to my son but you've been consorting with ... " he eyed Neville with disgust. _"him_ for three years? What kind of girl are you?"

Neville shoved in front of Luna to stand chest to chest with Lucius again. "You will _not_ speak to her that way. She hasn't done anything wrong."

"Except make an Unbreakable Vow to marry my son and then be unfaithful to him!" Lucius snarled.

"Wait, do you want Luna to marry Malfoy, I mean, Draco, or not?" Ron asked, one eyebrow arched. "Because before you didn't want her to, and now you're acting like you do."

"I don't want my son to marry damaged goods." Lucius snarked.

"You didn't want him to marry damaged goods but you betrothed him to Daphne Greengrass?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Perhaps we can use this to break the Vow." Narcissa suggested. "Is there any possibility Luna is pregnant?"

"No." both Luna and Neville answered.

"We've never done anything beyond snogging." Luna offered helpfully.

"You've been dating a girl for three years and you've never done more than kiss her?" Lucius eyed Neville before reaching in his pocket and handing Harry several galleon coins. "Please, procure a prostitute for him so he knows what to do."

Ron yanked Neville out of punching range before things could escalate.

"Maybe we should try marrying Neville and Luna, and see if that works." Xeno shrugged.

"I don't think it will, Daddy." Luna turned to face him. "Neville and I have mentioned a few times the possibility of getting married when he finished his auror training. But every time we talked about it, I became uncomfortable. I don't mean emotionally. I mean light headed and flushed."

"So the Vow is apparently binding on her end as well." Lucius sighed. "Does anyone else have any suggestions?"

"If Malfoy was dead, Luna could marry Neville." Ron piped up.

Everyone turned to glare at him.

"It was just a suggestion." he shrugged.


	4. Chapter 4

"Draco." his father's voice called him. "We have negotiated a marriage contract with the Lovegoods. I need you to wake now so we can discuss this."

His eyes fluttered slowly.

"Do NOT say you're not going to not going to marry her." His mother warned.

Draco opened his eyes to find his parents sitting on one side of the bed, with Luna and a man who was obviously her father sitting on the other.

"We've signed a marriage contract for the moment to reduce the health risks to both you and Luna. Apparently she experienced milder forms of the same symptoms when she and Neville Longbottom," Lucius said the name like a curse. "had spoken of the possibility of getting married. Bill Weasley is continuing to look into breaking the Vow, and of course, we will terminate the contract if he is able to do so."

Draco nodded.

"Meanwhile," his father continued. "We're going to leave you alone for a bit. The staff is going to bring you something to eat in a moment, and then Daphne will be here in an hour to speak with you."

He nodded again, staring at the ceiling, not speaking, not looking at his family, not acknowledging his new fiancee's soft. "Goodbye Draco."

Outside the hospital room, Luna turned to the Malfoys. "Good night. I suppose I'll be seeing you soon."

Her supposed future in laws turned and walked away.

Lucius and Narcissa had dinner in an exlcusive resturant in Diagon Alley. At the conclusion of their meal, Lucius escorted his wife to the floo to see her home, and then walked to the colorful shop down the street.

He found the proprietors on the sales floor.

"Gentlemen," he addressed. "The store closes in ten minutes. I shall be waiting to speak with you when it does."

The twins nodded. "We've been somewhat expecting you." one of them answered.

Lucius nodded curtly and went to stand next to the door labeled "Office." Once the store was emptied, the lights were dimmed, and the door was locked, one of the twins came to Lucius.

"Come on upstairs to the office." he invited.

Lucius looked at him, then at the door beside him.

"Oh, that's the loo." the twin informed him. "This _is_ a joke shop."

Lucius was taken to a surprisingly large and comfortable office and offered tea, which he politely declined.

"We've heard ... " one of the twins began.

"...that apparently the Vow is binding ..." the other chimed in.

"...and we're very sorry..."

"...about that. We didn't..."

"...realize at the time..."

"...the seriousness of something like that."

Both twins seemed, for once in their lives, to be serious and contrite.

"I understand that you were children, and I am certain that you were not aware of the scope of your actions at the time." Lucius looked from one to the other. "Your eldest brother is attempting to find a way to circumvent the curse. In the event he is unable to do so, my son will be force to marry Miss Lovegood. There is the matter of a marriage contract I had negotiated with Robert Greengrass for Draco to marry his middle daughter. In the event Draco and Daphne do not wed, I am obligated to pay Greengrass one hundred thousand galleons. In this case, I am certain the Wizengamot would agree with me that the two of you should be held liable for the sum."

The twins paled. "We understand that you should not have to pay for the broken contract in this case..."

"...but that is a lot of money to come up with..."

"...on short notice. We just made a very large investment..."

"...in our fall product line that's left us a bit short..."

"...of available cash at the moment. If we could..."

"...perhaps pay half and then work out terms for the rest..."

"...I assure you we are good for it."

Lucius looked around the office. "Anyone can see that your business is wildly successful and will certainly generate the income to cover the debt over time. However, acceptance of terms would be up to Greengrass, rather than myself. And we may even be discussing the matter prematurely. Your brother may be able to break this ridiculous Vow and such negotiations would be rendered unnecessary. I just wanted to prepare you in a worst case scenario." He pushed himself to his feet.

The twins stood as well. "We do appreciate..."

"...your understanding and we do hope..."

"...that Bill is able to break the Vow..."

"...for everyone's sake."

Lucius simply gave a curt nod. "Good evening gentlemen."

The twins led him to the floo and waited politely until he left.

One looked at the other as the green flames died down.

"Freddie, someone has been feeding that man way too much U No Poo."

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Draco's mother asked when his parents returned the following morning.

"Fine, I suppose." he shrugged. "The healer said earlier that they want me to stay until we found out what's going on with the Vow, so I don't say something I shouldn't and have to be rushed back again."

"Weasley is supposed to be here shortly to update us on what he's found." Lucius informed him. "How did things go with Daphne last night?"

Draco's face screwed up into a grimace. "Um, not well. She wasn't pleased about the marriage contract with Lovegood, even if it is only temporary. We started arguing. I slipped and said something I shouldn't have and she really lost it."

"What did you say?" Lucius gave him a withering look.

"That I hoped when her father reinstated the marriage contract it would be Astoria instead of Daphne." Draco pinched the bridge of his nose.

"That's horrible." His mother exclaimed. "No wonder the poor girl was angry with you."

She chattered on about the latest society gossip until there was a discreet knock at the door. Bill Weasley entered with the Lovegoods right behind him.

Lucius once again created the table and chairs for them to gather round.

"Why?" Bill asked.

"I feel more comfortable this way." Lucius shrugged.

"I hope you have good news for us." Draco began.

"Not really." Bill sighed. "I've researched ancient Merlinian law, wizarding common law, each word of the Vow, and even the origins and parameters of the Unbreakable Vow spell itself. Unintentionally, Draco and Luna made an extremely binding Vow with very little room to attempt to cancel it."

"But there is a way, right?" Xeno Lovegood asked him.

Bill spread parchments on the table. "What it's going to come down to is, they're going to have to get married. Both of them vowed, and if they don't do it soon, both of them will sicken. We're not sure if they will actually die, or just fall into a coma."

He looked around the table at four shocked faces and one mildly curious one.

"They have to consummate the marriage, and at least once, they have to ... um, not take precautions that would prevent them from having a child."

"But is there a way out after that?" Draco pressed.

"Possibly." Bill shuffled the parchments. "According to ancient Merlinian law, if a married couple has lived together 90 days and the wife truly does not please the husband, he may come before the Wizengamot and state his grievances, and request a divorce. I'm not sure how strong the disagreements would have to be to end the marriage without invoking the sinister side of the vow."

"What if she did something to truly cause me to be upset with her, like shagging Longbottom?" Draco asked.

Bill looked at Draco, and then Luna, before answering. "I don't know. Obviously, it would give you a valid reason to demand a divorce. But since she did vow to be a proper wife, and that's not something a proper wife would do, it could cause her harm."

"Our son would be _divorced?"_ Narcissa nearly choked on the word.

"Would you rather him get divorced, or remain married to _her?"_ Lucius muttered.

"That was uncalled for." Bill informed them with a frosty look.

"Oh." Narcissa looked down the table, as if she had forgotten the Lovegoods were there.

"I do apologize." Lucius told them, not at all looking apologetic. "I should not have said anything so improper."

"I suppose we should arrange the wedding." Narcissa sighed. "The sooner the better. The quicker we can get this over with, the sooner we can pass the three months and extricate them from the situation."

They quickly agreed that the marriage would take place the following weekend. No need for delay, and no one was interested in having the huge wedding for over a thousand guests which had been planned for Draco previously. They would be wed in the garden of the Manor, or the drawing room in the case of inclement weather.

Satisfied the plans were complete, Lucius excused himself to report to Robert Greengrass what they had learned. Narcissa left to confer with the house elves as to what needed to be done to facilitate the wedding. Xeno Lovegood had to get back to work at The Quibbler. Bill left, promising to continue looking into any other way around the Vow.

Which left only Luna and Draco. "I'm going to run an errand, and I'll be back in an hour." she told him. "That will give you time to get your shower and situate yourself. We probably should get to know one another since we're going to be married."

He didn't answer, just scowled at her.

"I'll see you in a bit, Draco." she smiled as she left.

Luna returned, as promised, an hour later with a shopping bag, which she held up. "I brought you a gift."

"Plan to poison me before the ceremony, do you?" he asked eyeing the bag suspiciously. Especially after it moved.

"No silly." she smiled, setting the bag beside him on the bed.

He opened the bag cautiously, and a head popped up.

"It's a ferret." he shrank back, looking from the animal to her nervously. "That's not funny, Loony."

"You said you liked ferrets." she tilted her head at him curiously.

"That was before I was turned into one." he watched the animal as if expecting it to attack.

She reached into the bag and lifted it out, holding it where he could see. "Don't be afraid of him. Animals can sense when you're nervous."

"Why on earth would you get me a ferret?" he raised one eyebrow.

"Because I thought we should make the best of the situation. Go back to the reasons we made the Vow. You wanted a pet ferret and you were fascinated by my round house. I wanted lots of pudding." she stroked the creature's head.

"It's not that simple, Luna." he sighed.

"Of course it is." she shrugged. "Most people overcomplicate things."

He cautiously reached over and stroked the ferret's head. "What is its name?"

"He doesn't have a name yet." she placed the pet in his arms "He's your pet. You pick his name."

"Luna," he sighed. "It was kind of you to buy me a gift, but I don't know about this. I've never had a pet before."

"It will be fine." she assured. "I'll help you take care of him. I think a ferret is actually a very good choice for you. They're very intelligent and playful."

"Thank you. I think." he gave her a half hearted smile.


	5. Chapter 5

"What is _that?"_ Narcissa screeched in horror.

"This is Dash. He's a ferret." Draco smiled.

"What are you doing with a ferret?" his father asked, frowning.

"He's my pet. Luna gave him to me." Draco put the animal on the floor and held up a treat, which Dash stood on his hind legs and begged for. "I've already taught him two tricks. He's really intelligent."

"She gave you a rodent?" his mother shuddered.

"Ferrets aren't rodents. They're mammals."

His parents did not look relieved by that information.

"You can't honestly think to have that _thing_ in the house!" his mother shuddered again for effect.

"Why not?" he shrugged. "They can be litterbox trained, like kneazles and cats."

"I don't know why you felt you needed another pet." Lucius frowned.

"Another pet?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "The closest I've ever had to a pet were Vince Crabbe and Greg Goyle. Dash is much smarter. And won't eat as much."

"There were the hunting dogs and the peacocks." Lucius shook his head.

"Oh please." Draco rolled his eyes. "I wasn't allowed to play with the dogs because I might ruin them. And I wasn't allowed near the peacocks because I might get dirty."

"And you'll probably get fleas or mange or something from that." Narcissa made a face.

"I am a grown man. I'm about to get married. When do I get to make my own decisions?" Draco asked, drawing his lips together.

"It's not that we don't want you to make your own decisions..." Lucius began.

"It's just that you still think you know what's best for me." Draco finished.

"We do. We're your parents." Lucius informed him.

"Yeah." Draco picked up Dash and headed up the stairs.

* * *

The receptionist stuck her head in Draco's office the middle of the following morning. "Luna Lovegood is here to see you." she announced with a raised eyebrow.

"Thank you. Please send her in." he smiled politely, deliberately not satisfying the woman's curiosity.

Luna breezed in smelling of sunshine and fresh air. "Hello Draco."

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I came to see where you work." she answered, looking around. "I thought it might be an important thing to know. I was also going to invite you to dinner this evening. I still live in the round house."

"No one has a round house, Luna." he echoed what he had been told long ago.

"I do." she shrugged. "You can see it if you come tonight."

"Okay." he answered. He wasn't sure why.

"So you make racing brooms." she walked over to look at the vintage model on the wall.

"Yeah." he stepped up behind her. "I've always loved Nimbus brooms, since I was a child. Shortly after ... we got all that situation worked out after the war, I found out the company was in trouble and possibly closing. So I bought it. Working for my father wasn't going too well anyway."

"And you saved them." she turned, smiling up at him shyly.

"Poor management was their main problem." he nodded. "They were spending way too much on overhead, so they were pricing their brooms too high and losing sales to the competitors. I downsized the operation. This is the corporate office. It's only four of us. Blaise Zabini is my salesman, securing locations for us to sell the brooms. Theo Nott is my numbers man. He does all the accounting and financial things. You saw Alicia. She's our receptionist."

"I'm surprised you hired a Gryffindor player." Luna looked toward the door.

"I needed someone who knew brooms. When a potential client makes an inquiry, she can respond intelligently." he shrugged. "We have seven people in the production shop. It's out in the country so the building costs are lower."

"Your eyes light up when you talk about brooms." she told him and handed him a scrap of parchment with an address. "Come about seven."

She turned and left, calling a farewell to Alicia on the way out.

* * *

Draco stood outside the address listed on the parchment at five minutes to seven.

It was a round house.

He made his way up a path that meandered randomly through the yard instead of leading directly to the front door, past several snargaluffs and gurdyoots to a front door flanked by matching crabapple trees. There was a bush full of those radish looking things Luna wore as earrings, with a sign that said "Keep off the Dirigible Plums." He reached the weathered old front door which proclaimed "The Quibbler - Editor X. Lovegood" but it was opened from the inside before he could knock.

"Hello, Draco. I saw you coming." Luna greeted him.

She ushered him into a round kitchen, painted in bright colors with birds and flowers.

"Oh. Here." Draco handed her the bottle of wine he had brought, looking around. "Did you paint this?"

"Actually my mother painted them originally." she told him. "The house was blown up in the war, you know. We salvaged as much of the original materials as we could, so some of them are still her paintings. I filled the rest in so it would match."

He nodded, and Luna tugged on his sleeve. "Come on, I'll show you the rest of the house."

She led him up the spiral staircase into a sitting room with large windows. It was decorated in blue, yellow, and white, with shabby mismatched furniture, and big fluffy cushions. There was a large portrait of young Luna and her parents over the fireplace, and a collection of framed photographs on the mantle that Draco walked over to look at. Luna and her father visiting the dragon preserve. Luna holding up a freshly caught fish. Her father wearing some sort of bizarre headdress.

"This used to be a combination of the sitting room and my father's office. When we rebuilt the house, I convinced him that if he moved all the equipment for the magazine to the cellar, he would have more room, and he wouldn't chance anyone damaging anything when we had company. Of course, the only company we usually have are the Weasleys, and they mostly sit in the kitchen, but it was a nice thought."

Luna was halfway up the staircase when Draco realized he had been left behind.

The next floor was Luna's room. Draco knew this before she spoke because of the pictures of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville with the word "_friends_" written in golden ink around them. The rest of the room was as light and airy as the sitting room, with a comfortable looking chair, a window seat that would be perfect for reading, and her bed, not as large as Draco's, but piled with fluffy pillows and thick quilts.

"Come on, then."

She led him to the next floor, which was the library. This was the only room not round, as the bookcases formed an octagon shape. He commented on the fact, to which Luna shrugged.

"Daddy has a lot of rare books, and he didn't want to risk damaging them by charming the shelves round."

She led the way to the top floor, which was her father's room. There were windows facing every direction, so that the view of the surrounding countryside and the sunset were spectacular. The view inside the room left something to be desired, as it was cluttered with clothes, papers, and random objects of all types.

Draco walked over to look at the colors in the sky, as the blues were fading into shades of orange, rose, and purple.

"Red skies at night, sailors delight." came a soft voice from near his elbow.

"Sorry?" Draco turned to look at her, frowning.

"It's an old, old expression." she answered. "If the sky is red at sunset, it means the next day will be lovely. If the sky is red at sunrise, it means there is a storm coming."

"I never heard that before." he answered. "I love to fly at this time of night."

"You should have brought your broom." Luna said.

He frowned at her. "But I came for dinner."

She shrugged. "There's plenty of wide open space here to fly. And we would have kept dinner warm for you. Speaking of which, it's done. Are you hungry?"

She led the way back down to the kitchen. Her father was now there, taking the food from the stove and moving it to the table. They seated themselves around the table, awkwardly passing the serving dishes and looking at one another until Mr. Lovegood finally commented on the fact he didn't think anyone else could have done as a fine a job reuniting the wizarding community as Kingsley Shacklebolt had done and asked Draco's opinion.

Draco agreed, and that began a brilliant conversation on how the reforms enacted so far had helped or not, and what reforms still needed to be made. The three talked through dinner and apple pie afterwards, until finally Mr. Lovegood stood and excused himself to put the finishing touches on the magazine that was to go to print tomorrow.

"I'm sorry." Draco frowned. "I didn't realize how late it's gotten."

"It's quite all right." her father smiled. "It's not often we have guests who can provide intelligent insights. I've quite enjoyed talking with you."

"I've enjoyed talking with you as well." Draco answered, surprising himself when he realized it was true.

Mr. Lovegood waved as he headed down the stairs. Luna flicked her wand to move the dishes to the sink and start them washing themselves.

"Would you like to go to the sitting room?" she asked, moving toward the stairs without waiting for a response.

Once upstairs, Luna perched in one of the overstuffed armchairs, curling her feet beneath her. Draco seated himself on the sofa across from her.

"Where are all your pets?" Draco asked, looking around.

"My father gave them all away except the kneazle after my mother died." Luna answered. "He said that they were too much for us to keep up with, but I think it was because they reminded him of her. Homer is probably out in the garden. He likes to chase field mice and gnomes. How is the ferret?"

"I don't know." Draco shrugged. "I called him Dash. He's very intelligent. I taught him to sit and beg before we even left the hospital. But when I started to put him in his cage to come over here this evening, he bit me." He held out his finger for her inspection.

"He's a baby." Luna told him. "They're like human babies. They don't know what they're not supposed to do unless you teach them."

"Oh." Draco nodded. "I hadn't thought about that."

"I'm glad you like him." Luna smiled.

Draco looked around the room again, feeling uncomfortable, and spotted something that he stood and walked over to look at. It was Luna's final report card from Hogwarts. She had made straight O's.

"You seemed surprised."

He startled, not realizing she had walked over to stand beside him. His mouth opened, and then closed again, not sure how to say what he was thinking without offending her.

"It's all right. Most people seemed to believe I was rather bubble headed." she shrugged.

"You never showed off your intelligence like Granger." he mused. "And the way you wandered about the castle ..." he trailed off, thinking he had gone too far.

"Not all those who wander are lost, Draco." she tilted her head at him.

Suddenly he was uncomfortable again.

"I'd better be on my way." he said. "It's almost 10:30. I told my parents I was coming for dinner. They'll be sending the aurors to look for me soon."

"It's good that you have parents to worry." Luna headed toward the stairs.

"Thank you for coming Draco." she told him at the front door. "It's been lovely getting to know you this evening. I think we could even be friends once we're married."

Draco frowned, not sure how to respond to that.

"Why don't you come have dinner with my family tomorrow night?" he invited. "We eat a little earlier, at 6:30 sharp."

"I'd like that." she smiled. Good night."

"Good night." he walked out the door, back down the winding path, and back through the gate to apparate home.

His parents were up when he arrived.

"Oh, thank Merlin you're safe." his mother held him at arm's length as she looked over him. "They didn't hex you or drug you or force you to marry her tonight, did they?"

"What? No. We were just talking and I didn't realize how late it was getting." he scowled. "And by the way, they really do have a round house."

"A round house?" his father scoffed. "Who ever heard of such a thing? Well, hopefully you can arrange business trips so you won't have to spend too much time with her once you're married. And then in three months, you'll never have to talk to her again."

Draco looked at his parents for a long moment. "Yeah. I'm going to bed. I have to go to work in the morning."

He made his way upstairs, changed for bed, and turned out the lights.

There was a rattling sound from over in the corner.

"Go to sleep, Dash." he said impatiently.

The rattling continued.

"Lumos." he sighed, going to the cage. "What's wrong?"

He opened the cage door, and the ferret immediately scampered up Draco's arm to perch on his shoulder and nuzzle against his neck. He swore the animal made a sigh of contentment.

"Are you afraid?" he asked softly, reaching up to stroke the little black and white nose. "All right, you can sleep with me tonight. But don't you think this is going to become a habit."

* * *

That night a well-dressed wizard made his way into Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes just before closing time.

"Mr. Weasley," he addressed one of the twins. "I'm Robert Greengrass. I received your owl requesting to negotiate terms. I believe we can work something out." he smiled.


	6. Chapter 6

Luna stopped by the Nimbus Racing Brooms office again the next day.

Draco, Blaise, and Theo were supposedly having a staff meeting, according to Alicia.

It looked a lot more like they were eating pumpkin pasties and making a betting bracket on the upcoming Junior League Quidditch Championships, she told Luna. Luna agreed.

"Luna." Draco leaped to his feet as Blaise quickly rolled up the parchments with brackets drawn on them.

"I forgot to ask you last night, Draco, if we were going on a honeymoon." she glided into the room to stand in front of him.

Theo watched with rapt interest as Blaise smirked at Draco from behind Luna's shoulder.

"Um, ... well, ... we hadn't really talked about." Draco stammered. "But the original plan was that Daphne and I were going to Greece this week, and then next week, I'm supposed to be in Norway for the Junior League Quidditch Championships. It's a working trip, you see."

"He and I are both going to be there." Blaise pitched in. "It's a great opportunity to meet others in the industry, make some connections, perhaps arrange some sponsorship or endorsement contracts."

"Yes, it does sound like a wonderful opportunity." Luna agreed, looking slightly disappointed.

"But there's no reason you can't come along." Blaise offered. "You could make some side trips during the day if Quidditch isn't your thing. But there will be a lot to see and do there. Exhibitions and vendor exhibits and interviews. A lot of professional players will be there as spectators, and scouts from teams looking for new players. Most of the activities will be during the day, so you can spend your evenings with Draco."

Luna turned to look at Blaise while Draco glared at him behind Luna's back. Blaise gave both of them his most charming smile. Theo clapped his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Luna turned back toward Draco, who quickly schooled his features back into neutrality.

"You'd probably be terribly bored, Luna." Draco told her with mock concern. "My days are going to be tied up, and probably most evenings I'll be having business dinners."

"I'm sure I could find something to do." Luna smiled at Draco. "The exhibitions do sound interesting. I could make a day trip or two over to Sweden to look for crumple horned snorkacks. Also, Rolf Scamander and I were discussing whether meteor shower last month was actually an incoming flux of vermicious knids entering the atmosphere. If so, they probably landed in Norway and Sweden. I could look for evidence and forward my findings to Rolf's team."

"I'll cover whatever business dinners I can for you, Draco." Blaise practically oozed charm. "After all, no one would expect you to be away from your new bride right away."

Luna turned to Blaise again as Draco scowled behind her back.

"That would be absolutely lovely of you." Luna shook Blaise's hand. "Thank you for offering." She turned to Theo, shaking his hand as well. "It was very nice to see you again, Theo." She then turned back to Draco, whose face was again neutral, and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you this evening."

He clenched his fists against the sides of his trouser legs, fighting the urge to wipe he kiss from his face. When the door closed behind her, Theo gave in to his giggles and Draco turned to Blaise.

"When I get through with you, you'll wish you had gotten stuck in a toilet pipe."

Luna smiled at Alicia on the way out. "I know why Draco chose Blaise to be his salesman. I've never met a more charming and flattering sycophant in my life."

* * *

Luna arrived in the floo at the Manor ay 6:28pm.

"Finally." Draco sighed. "Come on, my parents are already at the table."

He led her through a maze of passageways. She stopped and backed up once to look at something she had caught a glimpse of.

"Is that a nundu?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Yes, my great great great grandfather was the leader of the expedition that killed it, so he had the damn thing stuffed and mounted. I'll bring you back and let you see it after dinner if you'll just come on." Draco huffed.

They arrived in the dining room at 6:32, to the disapproving looks of his parents.

"Sorry." he murmured, pulling out Luna's chair before taking his own seat.

"Luna, I do hope you understand that we frequently have guests for dinner. Being tardy is extremely rude. I hope you shall not make a habit of this." Lucius frowned.

"Oh no." she answered with a smile. "I didn't realize how far the dining room was from the floo. And hopefully I shall soon be able to find my way without a guide or a map."

"Are you being cheeky?" Lucius asked, still frowning.

"Not intentionally." Luna continued to smile at him. "Have you ever gotten lost in this house?"

"Of course not." he shook his head, giving her a withering look.

"You must have a wonderful sense of direction." Luna tilted her head. "Or did you have a sheep dog to herd you about when you were younger?"

"What on earth are you talking about?" he spluttered.

"If Draco and I were to have several children, we might should get a sheep dog to herd them from the nursery to the dining room." she looked about the immense room.

Draco put down his fork and bit his lip to keep from laughing at his father, whose face had bypassed red and progressed to near purple.

"You and Draco shall not have several children. You will not even have one child, because you will not be staying married to him beyond the requisite ninety days." Lucius growled.

"One does not actually have to be married to have children." Luna pointed out.

"In a proper pure blood family they do." Narcissa pronounced authoritatively.

"If you say so." Luna shrugged. "But I'm certain there have been Malfoys over the years born on the wrong side of the blanket, so to speak."

"We do not discuss such things in public, and certainly not with anyone outside the family." Lucius informed her in a clipped tone.

"Oh. Then I am right." Luna smiled at her plate.

Draco swore the coughing fit the house elf in the corner was having was to cover his laughter.

"Luna, do you understand what will be expected of you during the time you are married to Draco, do you not?" Narcissa asked, probably to change the subject more than anything.

"Yes, of course." she looked at her future mother in law with a completely straight face. "I've even picked up a few books to read in order to prepare. Ars Amatoria, Lazzat Un Nisa, The Perfumed Garden of Sens..."

Draco choked on his salmon. Lucius dropped his wineglass. Narcissa made a sound that wasn't even human.

"That is not at _ALL_ what I meant!" Narcissa gasped. "I was referring to the society functions you will be expected to attend and those such matters. Although if you are going to discuss such matters in public, it may be best if you do _not_ attend!"

"I was told that we were required to consummate the marriage." Luna said. "You _don't_ want me to please him?"

Draco looked at his mother, interested to see how she answered that one.

Narcissa opened and closed her mouth several times before finally huffing. "Well. These are things that a polite young lady does not discuss with her intended's mother, and certainly not at the dinner table."

"I am sorry." to her credit, Luna did look contrite. "My mother passed on before I ever knew of such things, so I wasn't aware of what you felt it improper to discuss."

Narcissa gave Lucius a scathing look. The family patriarch did his best to keep the conversation steered toward safe, neutral subjects afterwards.

After dinner and pudding, Draco gave Luna a tour of about half the house.

"It's rather huge, and I'm sure it must be a bit overwhelming to see it all at once." he shrugged as he walked her to the floo.

"It's a stunning house," she replied. "But I do understand why you were so fascinated by hearing about my round house full of pets when you were younger. It must have been somewhat like growing up in a museum rather than a home. Everything here is beautiful and cold and you mustn't touch."

He stared at her for a moment, shocked that she put into words something he had felt but never voiced before.

"Good night Draco." she stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

Good night, Luna." he leaned forward to kiss her forehead, because it just felt like something right to do.

* * *

His parents came to Draco's room that night after Luna left.

"I've spoken with Luna, and based on the time of her last cycle, during the first week you are married she should not be within her fertile time of the month." his mother spoke conspiratorially. "That way, you can take care of your husbandly duties without running the risk of breeding her. After that, you'll need to exercise caution."

"Breeding her?" Draco arched an eyebrow. "You make it sound like I'm marrying a farm animal."

"Draco, you must be serious about this." Narcissa admonished. "Do you not understand the complications it would present if you had a child with this woman?"

"Draco, you do understand there are ways for a man to receive ... gratification ... without the risk of fathering a child." his father said, looking very uncomfortable.

Draco smirked. "Why do you think I like Astoria better than Daphne?"

"Draco Lucius Malfoy!" Narcissa shrieked.

"Oh dear Merlin, please tell me that you have not had carnal knowledge of your future sister in law." Lucius groaned.

"She's still technically a virgin. Or at least she was the last I knew." Draco shrugged. "Besides, I thought Robert Greengrass wasn't reinstating the marriage contract."

"He's hoping that by the time your divorce is final, Daphne will have forgiven you for the argument the two of you had." Lucius narrowed his eyes at his son.

"We'll see." Draco rolled his eyes. "But I'd be willing to take Astoria."


	7. Chapter 7

"Daddy, why do I have to go work at a joke store?" Daphne whined for about the dozenth time that day.

"Because those young men owe us a lot of money. I need someone to make sure they are working to the best of their ability so they can pay us." her father answered for the dozenth time.

"But you're asking me to work. Like a muggle." she whined yet again.

"It will be a wonderful story you can tell one day, sweetheart. And besides, I've heard a lot of handsome young men come in there." her father encouraged.

"But any young man who comes in there will think I'm a working class girl, not an heiress!" she protested.

"Sweetheart, that will just give them the chance to fall in love with your beauty and charm, rather than your money." he soothed. "Those are the ones you would rather have any way. The ones who just want your money tend to be rather perfidious."

"But what about Draco?" she asked.

"Dearest, he's marrying almost a mudblood. There is no guarantee that he's going to be able to dissolve the marriage in three months as he hopes. Even if he does, would you still want to marry him? If he truly insists on reinstating a marriage contract, I'll give him Astoria instead." her father sighed and shook his head.

"You're the best, Daddy." Daphne threw her arms around her father's neck.

He smiled.

* * *

Narcissa informed Draco the next morning that she had taken the liberty of sending a seamstress from Twilft and Tatting to the Lovegood home to measure Luna for a dress for the wedding.

"Why not Matrimonia?" Draco asked, referring to the bridal boutique Daphne had used to order her dress.

"Draco, dear, Luna is hardly the ten thousand galleon robe type." Narcissa clucked.

"I suppose I'll have to head over there at lunchtime to get another set of dress robes as well." Draco shrugged, reaching for the cream.

"No need. Just wear something you already have." his mother passed him a blueberry scone that he hadn't asked for.

"But I thought it was bad luck to wear old clothes to a wedding." Draco frowned.

"Dear, you already know you're not going to stay married to her." Narcissa gave him a dismissive look. "Why bother?"

"Well, at my last wedding, I nearly died, so I don't think I want to see what else could happen." Draco shrugged.

"You do have a point." she agreed. "You should probably go ahead and pick up a ring for her too."

"Why?" Draco arched an eyebrow. "We have a vault full of Malfoy family jewelry here."

"That's the point," his mother looked at him impatiently. "It's Malfoy family jewelry. She may not return her ring when you divorce."

"Like it would destroy us to lose a ring." Draco rolled his eyes.

"It's the principal of the matter." Lucius waved a hand. "If she is no longer a Malfoy, she should not be allowed to have Malfoy heirlooms."

"Are you going to search her after meals to make sure she hasn't stolen any of the silverware?" Draco snorted, pushing away from the table. "I'm going to work."

He owled Luna and asked her to meet him in Diagon Alley at noon. They had lunch in the new deli that had just opened, and then went to the jewelry store.

He told Luna to pick whatever she wanted, to the delight of the little man behind the counter. The jeweler immediately brought out a tray of large, gaudy rings.

Luna looked them over, then shook her head. "Don't you have anything smaller?"

She looked over the second tray, and again asked if they had anything smaller. The jeweler's face had fallen slightly by that point.

"What about something like one of these?" Draco pointed out a selection of modest but elegant looking rings in one case.

The man's eyes lit up again. "Oh, you have a good eye, sir. These are some of our highest quality rings."

"I like that one." Luna selected a delicate ring with a square diamond set in silver metal.

"Oh, yes, a wonderful piece." the jeweler removed the ring and handed it to Luna. "This is goblin crafted, with a Corillian diamond set in adamantium. The stone will never scratch or need polishing, and the metal is undamagable."

"Isn't adamantium magnetic?" Luna frowned, slipping the ring on her finger. It was a perfect fit.

"The metal is treated with lemon during the processing. It eliminates the magnetism and repels nargles." the jeweler smiled at her.

"Nargles?" Draco asked skeptically.

"Well, of course." the jeweler answered. "You wouldn't want to spend this much money for a ring only to have it promptly stolen by nargles."

"Am I the only one around here who isn't mad?" Draco muttered under his breath.

"Oh, no. I'm sure there must be someone else." Luna answered him pleasantly.

He escorted her down to Twilfit and Tatting next, where he asked for his favorite tailor Reynaldo. Draco was measured for the dress robes, and asked the man to see to finding Luna a dress.

"Reynaldo, I trust your judgement. Find her the perfect dress. And anything else she needs. Just put it all on my account." Draco told the man. "Luna, I've got to get back to work. Feel free to order whatever you need."

She looked over at the tailor, who immediately discreetly excused himself to fetch something from the other room.

"Draco, you don't have to buy me things." she said once the man left.

He shrugged. "That's how pureblood marriage works. I give you charge accounts to buy things to make you happy. I go off with the guys sometimes to make me happy. We go to parties and eat dinner together and mostly ignore each other beyond that."

"I don't like that idea of marriage." she replied sadly. "I'd rather see two people make each other happy."

"It's not going to last very long, so you may as well take advantage of the benefits while you can." he answered.

She stopped by Nimbus when she left the robe shop.

"I got my wedding dress ordered. " she told him. "Thank you."

"Did you get yourself whatever else you need?" he asked.

"I didn't really need anything else." she studied the broom on Draco's desk.

"Don't be ridiculous." he rolled his eyes. "Go back tomorrow and get yourself all new clothes. I'm sure you don't have too many formal dresses, and you'll need at least a couple next week."

"That's kind of you, Draco. But as you said, this is only temporary, so it wouldn't be well done of me to take advantage."

"You'll be my wife. You have to look good." he argued.

"It must be terribly sad to have to worry about what people think all the time." she observed. "My father always said there wasn't much use in worrying about what people think, because most people don't think much at all."

"That's true." he rolled his eyes. "But the world still works that way, and you _do_ need new clothes."

"Tell me about this broom." she reached out to touch the bristles.

"This is the Nimbus 3K. It's a bit different that our standard racing model, the 2500. This one is more designed for Quidditch specifically. It's our most aerodynamic yet. It has a state of the art braking charm, the bristles are rain and snow resistant, and the handlestock is slightly widened and curved and coated with a special potion that makes it easy to hold onto with one hand." He stroked the handle of the broom gently, almost reverently.

"It's a seeker's broom then?" she asked.

"Well, yes and no. This particular model probably has more features that would be useful to a seeker." he continued to look over the broom. 'But if this does well, I may develop a whole line of Quidditch brooms, each with some sort of modification to suit the position better."

"See, your eyes do light up when you talk about brooms." she smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

Neville came for dinner that night.

The whole evening was very subdued, with very little conversation. Mr. Lovegood excused himself without even staying for pudding.

"You're so quiet tonight." Neville said softly, reaching over to lay his hand over hers.

"It's just a bit sad that this is the last time we will do this." she shrugged.

"The last time for now." Neville smiled sadly at her. "You only have to be married to Malfoy for three months. I'll wait for you."

She sighed, then took his hand to lead him outside to sit on the steps and look up at the stars. "Neville, did you ever think the reason we haven't gotten past holding hands in the past three years is because maybe we weren't meant to?"

He frowned. "Luna, you know, we've had a lot going on, I've been in auror training, you went on that Scamander expedition. We just hadn't gotten there yet. I promise, when this marriage business is over, I will do better. I'll ... "

She reached over and touched his lips gently. "Don't, Neville."

"You don't want me to wait on you?" his brow creased.

"I want you to go on with your life." she told him. "If our paths cross again in the future, and it is meant to be for us to be together, it will happen. But it will happen on its own without us forcing things to come together. I do believe everything happens for a reason."

"So this is it, then? The end of the road?" Neville asked, trying not to sound hurt.

"Not the end." she shook her head. "Just the part where our roads go in different directions. We have to travel those roads to see where we end up."

He kissed her temple. "You'll always be special to me, Luna."

"And I will always wish the best for you." Luna squeezed his hand.

"It burns me up to know what he's going to do to you, being your husband. But I'll be damned if I let him bully you." Neville's voice was low and dangerous. "I mean it, Luna. If he ever hits you, or shoves you, or shakes you, or handles you in any way he shouldn't, I'll make sure he never does it again."

"Thank you Neville." she gave him a sad smile.

Neville stood. "Tell your father I said good night."

She nodded as he walked away.

* * *

Luna was rather busy the next day. She wrote her article for the next issue of The Quibbler, and one for the Fantastic Beasts magazine published by the Scamanders for which she was a consultant. She packed, both for her trip to Norway and to move into Malfoy Manor.

The twins came by for a bit that afternoon.

"Luna, we're really sorry... "

"that we made you vow ... "

"to marry that insufferable git ... "

"and we hope one day you will forgive us."

They brought wedding gifts, but of course, being the twins, they weren't new towels or baking dishes.

"We've taken pity on you for having to go live in that mausoleum with people whose faces would break if they had to smile, so we've taken the liberty of presenting you with some things to liven the place up a bit." Fred began, as George took the lid off one of the boxes.

"Patented Daydream Charms, so you can imagine a world without Malfoys." George smiled.

"Canary Creams for when you just can't take any more of that little ponce, and Puking Pastiles, so you can show him exactly what you think of him."

"A few portable swamps, in case you take a notion to go Plimpy fishing."

"Extendable Ears, if you ever decide to see what old Lucy and Cissy are up to when you're not around."

"A Headless Hat, for when you just can't look at his smug little face any more."

"Ton Tongue Toffee, for when you just can't listen to any more of his sarcastic comments."

"Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. Let's see him find you then, since the Ministry confiscated his Hand of Glory."

"Sticky Trainers, for when you don't want him following you."

"Love Potion, for when you need to convince him to see things your way."

"Magical Moustache Miracle Stubble Grow, because obviously Malfoy can't produce his own facial hair."

"Self Propelling Custard Pies, guaranteed to hit the face of the first person to speak when you place them on a table. We really hope at least once that it's Lucius."

"Jumping Snakes. We'll see how Slytherin they are after a few go rounds with these popping out of cupboards."

"This is a product we created just for the two of you lovebirds. It's a Trick Wand, that dispenses a bouncing stuffed ferret toy when waved. As soon as someone touches the ferret, it's been treated with a Gemino Charm, so that it multiplies. The more you try to catch it, the more there are."

"Did I tell you that I gave Draco a pet ferret as a wedding gift?" Luna smiled at them.

Fred and George both slid out of their chairs to kneel and bow at her feet. "Oh, our queen. Your deviousness exceeds even ours." Fred laughed.

* * *

One of the Malfoy house elves arrived just after breakfast to collect Luna the next day.

"It's nice to meet you, ma'am." the bride to be introduced herself. "I am Luna Lovegood, soon to be Malfoy."

The elf looked at her outstretched hand and backed away slowly, as if expecting some sort of trick.

"Elf name is Mimsy." the elf looked at her warily. Mimsy will take Miss' things and come back for Miss."

"All right then." Luna showed the elf to where her trunk and her smaller suitcase to take to Norway were stacked. The elf touched the items with one hand, snapped her fingers and disappeared. She returned a few moments later and apparated Luna to Malfoy Manor, where she was shown to a large bedroom on the south wing of the second floor. There were three doors, of which the elf explained, one was the closet, one was the shared bathroom, and one was to Master Draco's room.

If Draco was in there, Luna didn't have a chance to speak to him. Almost immediately, Narcissa arrived with a flamboyant wizard in tow. She introduced her personal beautician, and announced that Luna was going to be "prepared" for her wedding.

"Prepared" turned out to mean slathered with skin masks, legs and eyebrows waxed, hair deep conditioned, and manicured and pedicured, before they even thought about starting the actual process of dressing her.

* * *

Draco spent the bulk of his wedding day preparing for his trip to Norway. He packed, prepared his presentation materials for the new broom, and studied the stats on all the professional seekers to choose a possible endorsement partner if Krum didn't come through. He received an owl from Theo, offering to take him out for drinks after the Norway trip, or, as Theo put it, after a week of being stuck in a foreign country with Blaise and Loony.

He was almost surprised when one of the elves informed him that he had better get dressed, because everyone was waiting down in the garden. Draco quickly put on his dress robes and went out to the gazebo.

The wedding was almost a non-event, compared to the wedding that had been disrupted the week prior. Only their parents were present. A simpering middle management official from the Ministry led Draco and Luna to repeat standard vows that sounded hollow to everyone. Draco wondered briefly if the man would be obliviated afterward, to prevent anyone from spreading the word that he had married the Malfoy heir to the daughter of a half mad blood traitor. There was no photographer, no writer from The Prophet, no one interested in preserving this day for posterity.

They had dinner afterwards, another quiet and somber affair, until Narcissa made the mistake of asking Draco if he was all packed to go to Norway. Somehow that set Xeno Lovegood off on talking about his and Luna's last trip to Sweden to look for Crumple Horned Snorckacks two years ago. He carried on animatedly, randomly waving his hands and at one point, flinging potato off his fork halfway across the table.

Draco looked at Luna, who shrugged. He rolled his eyes and politely turned his attention back to his father in law's ravings.

Eventually, dinner was finished, and Luna's father bid them good night. The same little fat house elf escorted Luna to her room, where an exquisite long white silk nightgown hung on the wardrobe door. She sat in the chair, looking at the gown and wondering if she should change.

Draco came in with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. He poured drinks for both of them, and leaned against the wall, looking at her.

"Very nice choice on the dress." he finally said awkwardly. "The whole Greek goddess look, it was ... very ... pretty on you."

"Thank you." she smiled. "I told Reynaldo that I wanted something simple. He said you liked simple and elegant as well. That dress was the second one we tried on."

Draco finished his glass of champagne and poured a second, offering Luna more as well.

"You know you don't have to get me drunk and take advantage of me." she informed him. "This is a sure thing."

"Maybe I just need a little liquid courage." his voice had none of its usual edge. "I wasn't a Gryffindor you know."

"I wasn't either." Luna shrugged.

"I forget that sometimes." he said honestly.

Another tense silence yawned between them. Draco finished his second glass of champagne and again offered Luna a refill, which she again declined.

"So," he blew out his breath. "Do you want to do this here or in my room?"

"I don't suppose it really matters." she looked up at him. "Why do we have two bedrooms?"

He shook his head. "Most pureblood marriages are arranged. The couple may or may not even like each other. It's generally accepted that they will keep separate rooms, unless they develop an affection for one another and decide otherwise." He looked down at his hands. "My parents share a room now, but from what I understand they had separate quarters for the first several years they were married."

She nodded, but still didn't speak.

He ran a hand over his face and folded his arms. "I'll be gentle with you. I'm not an evil person, despite what Potter and his friends think of me."

"True." she agreed. "Sarcastic, arrogant, insecure, intelligent, ambitious, and for a long time, very angry, but not evil."

He laughed without mirth. "Can we get this over with before you deflate my ego any further?"

She stood, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her to the bed. The marriage was consummated, and when it was over, Luna informed him that she wouldn't mind doing that again some time.

Draco, to his surprise, decided that he wouldn't mind either. He told himself he would stay with her until she fell asleep. She deserved that much respect.

He ended up staying all night.


	9. Chapter 9

She was unwillingly pulled toward consciousness by first a wake up alarm charm on someone's wand, and then by someone gently shaking her. She realized it must have been Draco's alarm, and Draco was the one waking her.

Draco, who was apparently still in her bed.

"Luna, wake up."

She was awake, somewhat, but she was facing away from him so he didn't know that.

"Get up. You've got to get dressed." Draco informed her.

Luna sat up, rubbing her eyes. "It's still dark." she observed.

"Yes, but our international portkey is for six. That's forty five minutes from now. We've got to get dressed and get our luggage and get outside." his voice was slightly sharp.

"That doesn't leave us much time to eat breakfast." she looked over to where he had already stood and was pulling up last night's trousers.

"You can get some breakfast at the hotel." he snapped. "We can't be late."

He was gathering up the rest of his clothing from the floor. She did hope he didn't put his shirt back on right away. His chest and shoulders were rather nice to look at.

"I'm going to get a quick shower because I'm certain I'll take less time in the bathroom than you will. Where is my ... oh, there it is." he picked up his errant shoe and glanced over at Luna, now sitting up with the sheets gathered around her chest. "Go ahead and lay out your clothes or finish packing or whatever you need to do while I'm in the shower."

"Good morning Draco." she smiled at him sweetly.

He frowned in confusion for a second. "Oh. Yeah. Good morning." he said and stomped into the bathroom.

By the time Luna had finished in the bathroom, Draco was dressed in business attire, had shrunken their luggage and pocketed it, and sat waiting impatiently, holding Dash's cage.

"Oh, he's going with us?" she smiled, reaching a finger through the bars to stroke the black and white head.

"Yeah." Draco snorted. "If I left him here my mother might try to return him to the wild or something."

Luna checked the time. "We still have over ten minutes before time for the portkey." she sat down beside Draco on his bed. "Why are we going so early if opening ceremonies aren't until four this afternoon?"

"Because there's so much to do! I'm meeting Viktor Crum at nine on the pitch. He's going to try out the 3k to see if he will endorse it. Then Blaise and I have to get our booth set up in the vendor exibit area, I'm meeting the facilities director to get a room arranged, and after the opening ceremonies, we're having a press conference to announce the launch of the 3k." His words became faster and more agitated the longer he spoke.

"No wonder you're so tense this morning." Luna nodded.

"I'm not tense!" Draco snapped.

"Yes you are." Luna replied calmly.

"Yes, I am." he sighed.

She reached over and took his hand. "Everything will be fine. You've worked hard on this and left nothing to chance. The broom is fantastic and of course you'll have no problem securing endorsements."

His body relaxed ever so slightly for a moment, before he stiffened again, jerking his hand away from hers. "Come on. We need to get downstairs and outside to activate the portkey."

* * *

They arrived by portkey in the woods just outside the little village, and had only a short walk to the grand hotel on the main street. Draco checked them in at the counter, while Luna looked around the lobby.

"Come on, Luna." he growled impatiently, standing at the foot of the stairs.

He escorted her up to the room before silencing the door behind them.

"The hotel is full due to the tournament." Draco informed her grumpily. "I wasn't able to get us another room. We'll transfigure another bed and see what we can set up to give us both some privacy. If it comes to it, I could ask if I could stay in Blaise's room, but he might object. He normally finds some temporary female companionship on trips like this."

"Or we could just sleep in the same bed." she shrugged. "We are married."

"Yeah." Draco rolled his eyes. "We have an account here, so order whatever you want and have it charged to the room. I've got a few things to do. Just find something to keep yourself occupied." He turned toward the door. "Please feed Dash and let him run around for a few minutes, but make sure he's back in his cage before you leave the room."

"What time should I meet you back here to go to the opening ceremonies?" she asked.

He sighed, pausing with his hand on the doorknob. "I've got a lot of Nimbus things to do. It would probably be best for you just to go on to the ceremonies without me. And I'll be tied up with the press conference after, so go ahead and get yourself some dinner."

He crossed back to where she stood and dropped a few galleons in her hand. "Here. In case you need anything."

Then he was gone.

* * *

Krum flew around the pitch in a few lazy circles before putting the broom to any real tests. He zigged and zagged and made several sudden sharp turns before attempting more complex maneuvers such as a Wronski Feint and barrel rolls. He finally landed, smiling broadly.

"I like broom very much." he nodded. "I will endorse."

"Great." Draco shook the player's hand. "You'll be at the press conference introducing the broom tonight?"

"I vill be there." Krum confirmed. "Oh." he added as an afterthought. "I vant shirt."

"Shirt?" Draco frowned.

"Yes, shirt." the Bulgarian bobbed his head. "I see blonde lady at hotel this morning, have Nimbus 3k shirt." he gestured to his chest. "I the one flying the broom. I vant shirt."

"Not a problem, Mr. Krum." Blaise promised. "I will make sure one is delivered to your room this afternoon."

"Very good. Thank you gentlemen." Krum turned and walked away.

Draco turned to Blaise. "What is he talking about?"

Blaise rolled his eyes. "How many blonde women do you know with an association to Nimbus? Go find your wife and see what she's wearing."

It took Draco an hour to find Luna. She had wandered along the stream behind the hotel to a spot where a slight uphill turn made a natural dam, causing a deeper pool. She lay face down on a blanket, chin on her hand, watching dragonflies flitter over the surface of the water.

"Hello Draco." she greeted him without looking up. "How did the broom test go?"

"Great." he sat down beside her. "Krum loved the broom. He said he wants a Nimbus 3k shirt. He said you have one, and I don't even know what it is."

She rolled over to show him the front of her shirt. "This?"

The front of her shirt featured a full color likeness of the new broom, with Nimbus 3k in letters that seemed to wave and shimmer underneath.

"That's ... " he frowned. "Where did you get that?"

"I painted it." she shrugged. "The day before the wedding, the day after you showed me the prototype."

"I need you to make one for Krum." he told her, starting to stand and reaching to help her up. "Please. Now let's go show Blaise."

"Bloody Brillliant." was Blaise's response. He summoned a quill and parchment from the desk and handed them to Luna. "Here, make a list of whatever you need to replicate the shirt. Plan on making, oh, seven of them."

"Seven?" Draco asked.

"In case any other VIP's want one." Blaise shrugged. "You get Viktor Krum, Gwenog Jones, maybe Stewart from the Cannons or Nagalinki from the Ugandan team walking around in 3k shirts, you couldn't ask for better advertising."

"As far as I know, Jones isn't even here." Draco informed him, arms crossed.

"Quit dodging the point." Blaise rolled his eyes.

Luna finished the list and handed it to Blaise, who in turn handed it to Draco. "Arrange to get these items delivered to your room ASAP so Luna can make the shirts, and then meet me down at the booth."

Draco rolled his own eyes. "Right away, Mr. Zabini. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"See if you can find me a good cuppa." Blaise smirked. "Uncivilized heathens in this country can't make decent tea to save their lives."

Draco non-verbally hexed Blaise's robes pink. Blaise retaliated by turning Draco' hair pink.

"Boys!" Luna folded her arms at them.

"Has she been taking lessons from Alicia?" Blaise asked as they both cast finite charms and headed down the hall.

* * *

Luna didn't see Draco the rest of the day. Blaise stopped by the room later to pick up the finished shirts. She attended the opening ceremonies alone. Thirty two teams of fourteen to seventeen year olds from around the world were present to participate in a single elimination tournament. Later she stood alone in the back of the ballroom as Draco and Blaise, with help from Viktor Krum who proudly wore his 3k shirt, introduced the new star of the Nimbus Racing Broom lineup, the 3k. The reporters snapped pictures, and the crowd cheered. The Nimbus team finished their presentation, then opened the floor for questions. The first two were technical inquiries, the broom's zero to cruising speed time and braking g-ratio. The third was asked by a player from the US South team.

"Are the 3k shirts like Krum is wearing going to be available to the public?"

Draco looked at Blaise, who instantly went into salesman mode. "Would you like the shirts to be available to the public?" he asked, reaching under the table to retrieve one of the shirts, which he tossed to the young man. The crowd cheered wildly. "Do you want the shirts?" Blaise brought three more from under the table. He tossed another into the crowd, then handed the other two to Draco for him to throw.

They nearly started a riot, as the spectators fought for the shirts.

"Come to our booth tomorrow, and you can get your own 3k shirt." Blaise promised.

The crowd cheered once again, and Draco declared the press conference over, inviting everyone to stop by the Nimbus booth to ask any other questions they may have.

He leaned over to Blaise. "I hope you can get enough supplies to make the rest of those shirts."

"Trust me." Blaise smirked.

"It scares me when you say that." Draco retorted.

Blaise slipped out the side entrance as Draco stayed behind to talk to a few stragglers.

After half an hour, the crowd had dwindled down to the owner of a chain of Quidditch supply stores and Oliver Wood.

"Wood." Draco nodded. "Good to see you. I heard you were playing professionally now. Come for the tournament?"

"Malfoy." Wood acknowledged. "I am here for the tournament. My youngest brother is the seeker for the Hogwarts All Star team. Madam Hooch says he's the best seeker she's seen since you and Potter played. Sure bet to go professional after he finished school. If you would be interested in a Junior League player to endorse the brooms, you should have a look at Joseph."

"I don't know if I could help out Gryffindor's team by giving their seeker such a superior broom." Draco joked.

"Not a problem." Wood laughed. "Joe is a Hufflepuff."

Draco nodded. "I'll have a look at him tomorrow. Hogwarts plays the second match, right?"

"They're playing the US West team." Wood agreed. "You know, I'm kind of surprised you didn't go pro."

"Problem with my arm." Draco shrugged, waving his left hand absently.

"Yeah. Lot of people hurt in the war. Damn shame." Wood shook Draco's hand. "I'm sure I'll see you around this week."

Wood halfway turned to leave when he saw Luna approaching. He stopped, watching.

"Hello, Draco." she smiled. "Sorry to interrupt. Blaise wanted me to let you know he's securing the items you asked about and he may be a bit late for dinner. He said order him a glass of wine and he will be there shortly."

"Thank you." Draco nodded.

"Well, hello young lady." the older man boomed, holding out a hand and assessing Luna with an appreciative eye. "Are you one of Draco's employees or just his girlfriend?"

"Actually I'm his wife." Luna smiled sweetly at the lecher and shook his hand. "Luna Malfoy, sir. It's lovely to meet you."

Wood's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Malfoy! You married Luna Lovegood!" he shook his head. "I never would have seen that coming."

"That makes two of us." Draco agreed with a wry smile.

"Norman Penrod, president of Quality Quidditch Supplies, ma'am." he shook Luna's hand enthusiastically. "I wasn't aware that Malfoy had married, and certainly not to a young lady as charming as yourself."

"Oh we were just married yesterday." Luna informed the man.

"And he brought you here on your honeymoon?" Penrod looked at Draco with a frown. "You can't be spending much time with her."

"I knew when I married Draco that brooms were his first love." Luna withdrew her hand from Penrod's and stepped closer to her husband. "He's very dedicated to his work."

Draco slipped an arm around her waist and raised his chin toward Penrod, staring at the old man for a moment. He then turned to Luna. "Why don't you order room service for dinner, and have them send up a bottle of champagne for later? I'll see you when I'm done with my dinner with Mr. Penrod."

"Oh, nonsense, Malfoy." Penrod clapped him on the shoulder. "Bring your lovely wife along this evening." The man turned to Luna. "Half an hour at the steakhouse next to the hotel."

Luna nodded at Penrod, then looked to Draco. "I had better hurry and get changed."

Draco kissed her cheek, and looked toward Oliver, who was still watching with thinly disguised disbelief. "Wood, if you're headed to the hotel, would you mind seeing Luna back?" He cut his eyes toward Penrod, who was once again openly leering at Luna.

Wood smiled and gallantly offered Luna his arm. "Actually we're camping in the village green, but it's not far from the hotel. I'd be glad to escort Luna back for you."

The two of them walked away, and Penrod again turned to Draco. "Beautiful young lady you have there, Malfoy. And sensible, too."

"Sensible?" Draco questioned, fairly certain it was the first time Luna had ever been called _that._

"Absolutely." Penrod nodded. "Wearing denims and trainers to Quidditch. My wife traipses about in designer robes and high heeled shoes, turns her ankle, and complains about how bloody hard it is to get the mud and grass stains out of silk." He gave Draco an exaggerated wink. "Of course, you probably were focused on how good her arse looks walking away in those denims."

Draco turned, but Luna and Wood were already out of sight. He turned back toward the businessman, willing himself to be patient. "She was the designer of the 3k shirts. She's very artistic."

The man laughed. "Yes, I know what they say about those creative types in bed. You've hit the jackpot on that one, haven't you?" The man continued on before Draco could make an outraged comment. "I have to hand it to you, it was a bloody brilliant idea. The way anything and everything muggle is so fashionable at the moment, selling muggle-inspired shirts advertising your newest product, you're making money on both ends. Not that I'd expect less from a Malfoy. Your father is certainly a businessman. Everything he touches turns to gold."

Draco nodded, thanked the man, and mentally began making a list of things he needed for tomorrow.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N - I posted two chapters in less than 24 hours. Make sure you read both of them, or you'll be asking who Penrod is the first line.

* * *

Luna charmed Penrod at dinner that evening. By charmed, Draco meant the creepy old man watched Luna eat her dinner as if he would like to devour her, asked her opinion about everything, and made several lewd double entendres which thankfully seemed to sail right over Luna's head.

The dinner ended none too soon, as Draco was becoming convinced that he would hex the man, business deal or not, if this went on five more minutes.

They returned to their room where to Draco's surprise, Luna had ordered champagne, which was waiting for them.

"We do have something to celebrate, after all." she smiled.

He raised one eyebrow at her.

"The broom launch was a wonderful success. Krum is going to be your celebrity ambassador, and if everyone is so excited just to get shirts with the brooms on them, imagine how many brooms you're going to sell August first when they actually reach the market." she had opened the champagne and poured each of them a glass while she was speaking. She handed one to Draco, and raised hers in a toast. "To Nimbus, and the brilliant man behind the company."

He raised his. "To the woman who accidentally created a marketing sensation." he smirked.

They both took a drink.

"Whatever works." Luna smiled.

They finished their champagne, and each had a second glass, laughingly suggesting the toasts Blaise would make to himself if he had been there.

Draco looked around the room. "We could transfigure the chairs into another bed, but we might have to shrink this one down a little to have room for two."

She waved her hand. "Just sleep with me tonight."

His eyebrows shot to the top of his head.

Luna giggled. "I meant, physically rest in the same bed. We're married, and we didn't do too bad last night. You didn't snore terribly or kick me in the head or anything like that."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Gee thanks."

"Although," she said and paused.

He looked up to see that her eyes had darkened.

"If you wanted to, you know, make sure the marriage was well and fully consummated, I wouldn't mind." she dipped her head toward the floor, looking up at him through her lashes.

He stepped in front of her, taking her glass from her hand and tipping her chin up to look at him. "Are you okay? I mean, yes, I want to, but if you're too sore from last night, we don't have to."

"You're the one who told me that we would only be married for three months, to take advantage of the benefits while we can." she said, slightly breathless.

That was all the convincing Draco needed.

* * *

They woke early. Luna had figured out a replicating charm that allowed her to make 500 shirts in less than half an hour. Draco played with Dash while she worked, explaining to her that he and Blaise would take turns working the vendor booth, but for the most part Miles Bletchley and Angelina Johnson had been hired to run it, freeing up Draco and Blaise to attend the matches and set appointments with any business associates they may need to meet.

Draco made a few floo calls and ordered khaki casual pants and muggle golf shirts emblazoned with the Nimbus logo for himself and Blaise. Penrod did have a point about casual clothes being more practical at the matches, and since the war, business negotiations weren't as formal as they once had been. Between magic and Malfoy money, the clothes were delivered an hour later.

They ordered breakfast from room service. Draco showered and dressed so that he could be at the booth when the vendor exhibits opened. After all, not only would there be quite a few curious potential customers stopping by, he also wanted to take a look at the competitor's booths before the first match at ten.

Just as he was getting ready to leave, another delivery arrived, two large packages from Twilfit and Tatting. Draco tipped the hotel employee who brought them up and turned toward the door.

"Wait, aren't you going to open them?" Luna frowned.

"No." Draco smiled. "They're for you."

"I didn't order anything except my wedding dress." she shook her head.

"I know." he looked at her in exasperation. "I told you to order yourself new clothes and you didn't, so I ordered them for you."

"I didn't need new clothes, Draco." she told him.

"You did!" he insisted. "The dress you wore last night was nice but it was at least five years old. The rest of your clothes look like something a second hand store would throw away!"

It was only there for a fraction of a second, the barest glimmer in her eyes, but he saw it. He had hurt her feelings.

"Luna." he sighed. "I'm sorry. I wanted you to have nice things. I didn't mean to upset you."

She didn't answer, just sat on the bed, looking down at her hands, but Draco could see she was biting her lip.

"Luna." he tried again.

She didn't look up and he didn't know what else to say.

"I've got to get down to the booth. I'll see you after while."

She didn't tell him goodbye.

The area around their booth was standing room only as soon as the exhibits opened. Draco had to shove his way through the crowd. They sold all five hundred shirts in less than an hour. The crowd was so intense Draco didn't get a chance to tour the other exhibits before he headed up to the Nimbus luxury box seats at the pitch. Blaise pulled him aside to tell him that Penrod would be coming to watch the match with them, and possibly Broderick Fincannon III, owner of the Chudley Cannons.

Draco had just arrived at the box at five minutes before match time, and asked the waiter assigned to them to bring a variety tray of snacks and drinks. The man turned and left, and Draco heard humming.

The humming was getting closer, and sounded annoyingly familiar.

Luna walked in to the box, wearing jeans, a purple top, and those insane glasses she had worn at Hogwarts to find Nargles or whatever they were. None of which had arrived from Twilfit and Tatting that morning.

"What are you doing here, Luna?" Draco drawled, his voice slightly aggravated.

"I came to watch the Quidditch match with you." she smiled.

"How are you going to _see_ Quidditch with those ridiculous glasses on?" he sniped.

She took them off. "Better?"

"Not really. I'm rather busy." he said by way of dismissal. "I have several business associates who will be here momentarily. Here." he shoved several galleons into her hands. "Go find something to amuse yourself."

He turned and started to walk toward the entrance to the box, but she grabbed the back of his belt.

"Draco Malfoy!" her slightly raised voice startled him. "I am tired of you throwing money at me. I am your wife, not some kind of prostitute you can pay to go away."

Her right hand reached around him to shove the galleons back into his front pants pocket. And it stayed in his khakis.

"Luna." he growled, his tone sounding a bit odd. "Get your hand out of my pants."

"I can't." she answered.

"What do you mean, you can't?" he started to turn toward her, shifting her hand in his pocket to a place that had him sucking in his breath and his eyes widening.

"My hand is stuck." she moved her hand again, inadvertently copping a feel for a second time, causing Draco to flinch backwards, nearly knocking both of them to the ground. "I think my bracelet is caught on the material."

"Get it loose!" he hissed.

"I truly am trying, Draco." she assured. To prove her point, she wriggled her hand again, once again brushing against part of his anatomy that had, um stood up and taken notice of the proximity of her fingers.

"Put your other hand in and take hold of it!" he cried just as Blaise walked in, followed by Norman Penrod.

Blaise's eyes widened and his hand clapped over his mouth in a combination of what appeared to be amusement and horror. Draco looked down, realizing the khaki cotton pants hid absolutely nothing, and wished he had worn a suit and formal robes, no matter how damn impractical they were.

Penrod, the pervert, gave Draco a thumbs up. "That's more like it. On your honeymoon."

Blaise turned, grabbing Penrod by his beefy arm. "Let's go ... um ... find ... something."

He led the man back out of the section.

Luna loosened Draco's belt with her free hand and reached into his waistband.

He jumped clean off the floor. "WHAT do you think you're doing?" he screeched.

"I'm trying to free my hand." she answered. "I can't get my other hand in your pocket."

"Your hand does NOT need to go there!" he spluttered.

"Well then how can I get my bracelet loose?" she asked.

"Can't you just pull your hand out of your bracelet?" he looked down to where her head hovered near his side, just above his waist.

"No, it's charmed not to come off easily so I don't lose it." she sighed. "Let me get my wand, and perhaps I can use a severing charm."

"Oh _HELL_ NO!" Draco shouted, turning sharply so that he pulled Luna's hand across the rather prominent bulge in his pants again. "You are not cutting off my trousers or anything else!"

"No, silly." she actually had the nerve to giggle at him. "I meant cut the bracelet. I guess the only thing we can do is for you to take off your pants and let me try to work it loose."

Her free hand opened the button at the top of his fly. His hand clamped down over hers.

"Not here!" he hissed. "Anyone could see."

"Where then?" she asked.

"There's a private bathroom for the executive boxes at the end of the hall. We'll go in there." He took a step toward the box entrance. "And lock the door!" he added.

He half dragged her down the hallway ignoring the curious glances sent their way, until they reached the lavatory, which thankfully was unoccupied. Once inside, he locked the door with a spell, and quickly shimmied out of his trousers. Once they were able to see how the clasp of the bracelet was caught around a thread in the pocket seam, it took only a few seconds to disentangle it. Luna had her arm back, and Draco slipped his pants back on, but didn't fasten them. He turned away from her, placing his arm against the wall and leaning his head on it.

"Shouldn't we get back to the match?" she asked softly.

"I can't go anywhere for a few minutes." he muttered.

"Why not?" Luna frowned.

"I need to get myself under control." he answered, his voice somewhat muffled by his arm.

"Did I make you that angry?" Luna asked. "I am very sorry about. I was only ... "

"Stop, Luna." he sighed. "I'm not angry."

"Then what? she asked.

"You ... it ... I'm kind of ... aroused ... right now, and I don't need to go back out there like this." he was glad at the moment his arm was hiding his face, which he knew must be flushed.

"I could take care of it for you, Draco." Luna offered softly, and whatever control Draco had so far gotten over his groin disappeared.

"Don't." he choked out. "Just ... no."

"But it's normal to have these kinds of urges, especially in the early days of marriage, and there's nothing more proper than to have your spouse ... "

"NO!" he practically shouted, before continuing at a more normal volume. "Luna, this is not a regular marriage. This is just something we have to do for three months before we can get on with our lives.

"But you liked it last night when we ... "

"STOP!" he almost shrieked, slapping his hand against the wall. He sighed again. "The more you keep on, the harder I'm getting, and I'm really trying to make things go the other direction."

"What can I do to help?" she asked softly.

He bit his lip to keep from yelling at her again, because her offer had been sincere, and she hadn't meant to get him even more worked up.

"Talk about something else. Anything." he pleaded.

"What happened to your arm?" she came over and sat down beside him, leaning her back against the wall he was still facing.

"What?" he frowned.

"I heard you tell Oliver Wood that you didn't pursue playing Quidditch professionally because there was something wrong with your arm." she looked up at him.

"There was a fucking Dark Mark on it." he snorted. "That was the problem. None of the teams would take on a former Death Eater, even if I was given ten years probation by the Ministry and got that stupid medal for not telling that it was Potter when the Snatchers captured him. They were all afraid people would boycott the team and attendance and souvenir sales would suffer."

"I'm very sorry, Draco." she told him sadly.

He looked down at her, listening to the words many other people had told him over the years.

This was the only time he believed the person saying those words.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N - apparently was having some issues yesterday. I posted this chapter, never got the email notice of a new chapter, and then this morning someone notified me that it was gone.

* * *

Nearly fifteen minutes later, they returned to the box to find Blaise, Penrod, and Fincannon waiting for them. The match was barely started, as the score was only 20-10. Introductions were made, and pointless polite conversation followed. Luna sat by Draco's side and barely spoke for the duration of the match. The two teams played very well, with the score staying within 30 points until a little over two hours in, when Brazil's seeker caught the snitch, giving them a 330-200 victory over Italy.

Penrod and Fincannon both excused themselves, as they had prior lunch commitments. Blaise went down to check on the booth, leaving Draco and Luna alone.

"I'm going to order lunch here." Draco told her. "There's not much on the menu except sandwiches and the like. You can stay if you want, or you can go into town if you'd rather have real food."

"Sandwiches are fine." she smiled. "Hogwarts plays next, don't they? I'd like to stay for that."

"All right." Draco summoned the waiter to order lunch.

The awkward silence descended again once the waiter left.

"Do you follow much Quidditch?" Draco asked. "I mean, I know I used to see you at Hogwarts at the matches. Half a mile up, you couldn't miss that lion hat." He rolled his eyes. "But ... do you understand it?"

"Not as much as I'd like to." she shrugged. "My father was never into Quidditch. The Weasleys were, but they were mostly too busy shouting and carrying on to explain plays and strategies and all that."

"I could teach you." he offered.

She smiled. "Thank you Draco."

He didn't have much opportunity to explain strategy during the Hogwarts-US West match. Oliver Wood's brother caught the snitch a mere twenty minutes in. It was enough time for Draco to see that Joe Wood was an amazing player.

The next match quickly turned into a one sided event that had everyone hoping that someone would catch the snitch, just to end it.

"I'm going to walk down to send an owl. Then I'll probably walk around the exhibits for a while. Do you want to come along or stay here?" Draco asked.

"I'll go with you." Luna smiled.

They stopped by the owl post so Draco could send a message to Oliver Wood, requesting to meet about a contract with Joe. They stopped by the Nimbus booth next, where Blaise informed them visitors had been steady all morning long. They had a waiting list of over 300 more people wanting 3k shirts, and two other Quidditch supply chains, as well as Spintwitches and Broomstix, wanted to meet with Draco and Blaise before the week was out.

They ended up staying a bit so Bletchley and Johnson could grab some lunch. Luna mostly stood aside, allowing Draco and Blaise to field most of the questions, but when anyone asked about 3k shirts, she asked their opinions about colors, styles, and other promotional items customers would like to see, jotting some notes on their input.

Bletchley and Johnson returned, so Draco and Luna continued on. There were booths from various Quidditch suppliers, some of the professional teams, Quidditch magazines, and quite a few unrelated sponsors, such as Scribbulus Writing Implements and J. Pippin's Potions which was promoting their new line of men's products.

The Firebolt company's booth was nearly deserted.

"They're hurting right now." Draco told her. "They haven't come out with a new model in two years, and Krum, who's been flying a Firebolt for almost ten years, has signed with us."

Cleansweep didn't even have a booth.

"They're the market leader in lower end brooms. The economy class, all purpose brooms anyone can afford. They haven't even made a sport model in years. It's actually a waste of time for them to be here, because they're almost guaranteed to get the buyers who can't afford a Nimbus or a Firebolt. It's almost as if Nimbus and Cleansweep aren't even competitors. Our purpose is to make a broom of such quality that you won't tire of it before a better model comes along. If you look at a used broom shop now, you might find a Nimbus 2000 or 2001. You won't find a 2500. At least not until the 3k comes out. I stopped production on the economy models and that Fambus monstrosity when I took over the company." he stopped when he realized Luna was biting her lip not to giggle.

"What?" he asked.

"You and your brooms." she smiled.

"At least you listen." he snorted. "Daphne would always change the subject when I talk about brooms."

They reached the end of the concourse, where the other premium booth was situated. There were two booths larger than the others, placed at opposite ends of the exhibition hall. Nimbus had one. Draco hadn't asked who rented the other, beyond being assured that it wasn't another broom manufacturer. At an event packed with teenage boys, he should have realized who would have the other premium booth.

"...Skivving Snackboxes for twenty percent off! Buy three and we'll give you a free box of Canary Creams!" the red haired man in a magenta robe hawked.

"And don't forget, our newest location in Hogsmeade will be opening at the end of the summer! All you Hogwarts students can pick up your favorite Weasley products on Hogsmeade weekends!" the other twin shouted.

Draco stopped in the middle of the aisle.

Unfortunately, one of the twins spotted them.

"And there is Draco Malfoy, owner of Nimbus Racing Brooms, obviously come to stock up on U No Poo!" the twin pointed, and everyone turned to look at Draco and Luna.

"Actually I came to see if you now have freckle remover to go with your Ten Second Pimple Remover." Draco called back. "But I imagine a product like that would be too dangerous. If you ever spilled any at home, you could wipe out your entire family."

The twins continued to smile, but their eyes narrowed.

"Luna, we're working on a firework display like the world has never seen to set off in eighty eight days." One of the Weasleys told her, looking at Draco significantly.

"Is that for the release of the Nimbus 3k?" some kid in the crowd asked.

Luna's expression suddenly turned speculative. "Owl me later." she called to the twins.

She and Draco turned to walk away.

"Malfoy, wait!" one of the twins shouted.

Draco stopped and looked back at the booth.

"Here, on the house." the twin shouted, tossing something to him.

Draco looked at the item that landed in his hands before giving the smirking twins a death glare.

An Edible Dark Mark.

* * *

Draco and Luna returned to the booth just in time to catch the end of the Uganda-Canada match, which finally ended with a score of 810-60.

"What the twins said about fireworks..." Luna looked at Draco. "What if we did have a big launch party for the new brooms, with a huge fireworks display?"

He glared at her.

"Really," she continued. "Midnight on July 31st, make it a big event, be the first to get your broom type thing."

"That would mean doing business with the Weasley twins." Draco growled. "Which, I might remind you, are the reason we're in this situation."

"We don't have to get the fireworks from the Weasley twins." Luna shrugged. "Although they do make the best."

At that moment Blaise walked in with Broderick Fincannon.

"What do you think of having a release party, Blaise?" she asked.

Blaise looked back and forth between Draco and Luna, as if wondering what he had walked into.

"An event, at midnight the night before the brooms go on the market, with fireworks and the like, where customers can be the first to get a 3k?" she explained.

"I think it's a brilliant idea." Blaise agreed. He looked at Draco in amusement. "You should have married her a long time ago."

Draco rolled his eyes at Blaise. "She wants to order fireworks from the Weasley twins."

"I know you're not friendly with them, but they do make the best fireworks." Blaise nodded. "We cold possibly even commission some custom fireworks, such as the Nimbus logo or brooms."

"That would be fantastic." Mr. Fincannon agreed.

Draco looked over at the man.

"If we can reach a deal, we could possibly even do a tie in with the team, get a couple of my more popular players there." Fincannon continued.

"Mr. Fincannon, " Draco began.

"Call me Rick, please."

"Rick, then." Draco nodded. "We haven't had much chance to talk about this. What are you looking for from Nimbus?"

Rick sighed. "Back when my grandfather's grandfather owned the team, they won championships coming and going. The Cannons packed the stands every match. Now we actually make more money from souvenir sales than we do from attendance. I want to turn the team around, get these guys actually winning some matches and competing for championships again."

"Professor Dumbledore once suggested sacking the whole team and several gallons of Felix Felicis." Luna offered helpfully."

Draco, froze, mortified, repeating to himself. _'Oh please tell me she did not say that. Please tell me she did not just say that.'_

Rick Fincannon actually laughed. "Dumbledore, rest his soul. The man always had a delightful sense of humour."

Draco released the breath he'd been holding. "I think you're off to a good start signing Cole Stewart. He's the best keeper in the league right now. Unfortunately, the rest of your squad isn't scoring any points while he's defending the goals."

"True." Fincannon agreed. "We're in negotiation with a chaser and a seeker currently playing for other teams, whose contracts are up soon. That's also a large part of the reason I'm here, to scout some Junior League talent. In particular, there's a beater on the Durmstrang team everyone is talking about, going into his final year of school. I want a championship in my lifetime and I'm willing to make some investments in the team to get it." he looked over at Draco. "I'd like to see us work something out to put my whole team on 3ks. Seeing that I'm willing to provide the best equipment could help with the recruiting process."

"It could also be an emotional boost to your other players." Luna suggested. "Maybe if they see how serious you are about the team, it will give them the determination to play harder. Or maybe it would help you determine which players' hearts aren't in it and need to go."

"You're absolutely right." Fincannon looked at her. "I've got Joey Jenkins, who's been playing with the team for years. He's past his prime as a player, but he's dedicated to the team. He bleeds Cannon Orange. He gives it all he's got. Some of the younger players are just there to play Quidditch and collect a paycheck."

"Perhaps you can keep Jenkins on as a reserve player and coach." Luna said. "Someone like that is just as much an asset to the team as someone who scores 200 points. If you do sign some of these younger players you want to recruit, he could be a wonderful mentor to them."

"That's what I'm hoping to do." Fincannon held up his glass for a refill on his lemonade as the waiter moved silently about the box.

A whistle blew in the air above the pitch, signalling the beginning of the next match.

"Australia versus Argentina." Fincannon nodded toward the pitch. "Should be a pretty good match, but the next one is the one I want to see."

"Durmstrang and Japan." Blaise agreed. "They were the two favorites to win coming in to the event. No one can believe they have to play each other in the first round."

"Luck of the draw." Fincannon shrugged. "Now Malfoy, let's get down to business here."

Draco and the Cannons owner worked out a deal for Nimbus to be the official broom of the Cannons in exchange for Nimbus logos on the team uniforms and advertisements and mentions during the commentary of the games, and the right to use Cannon players in Nimbus advertisements.

"You should send us some of those 3k shirts." Fincannon offered. "The Cannons sell more merchandise than the next five teams combined. We can put them in our store and offer them through our owl orders. You should have your art team get together with mine, and see if maybe we can design a combination shirt."

"This is my art department." Draco grinned, pointing at Luna.

"You're a very lucky man." Fincannon replied. "Beautiful, intelligent, and talented."

They negotiated the percentage the Cannons would get for selling Nimbus shirts. Blaise scribbled notes down on everything the two sides had agreed upon.

"Have your solicitor draw it all up and we'll sign." Fincannon told Draco, standing and shaking his hand. "I look forward to doing business, Draco."

He excused himself to attend to some other matters, but accepted Draco's invitation to come back later to watch the Durmstrang-Japan match. Blaise left a few minutes later, to go by and check on the booth, and to see when would be a good time to meet with Spintwitches and North American Quidditch.

"Why don't we go back to the room and check on Dash, and then maybe pick up something for supper?" Draco asked. "I'm going to come back for the next match, but you don't have to if you want to do something else."

"If it's going to be the best matchup, I'd like to see it." Luna shrugged.

They walked back to the hotel, mostly without speaking. Draco let Dash out of the cage and worked on tricks with him. Luna pulled a sketchpad out of her suitcase and lay on the bed, drawing.

"What are you drawing?" Draco asked.

"Some ideas for additional promotional items. Some different shirt designs, maybe miniature toy brooms or broom jewelry."

"Maybe we should create a whole line of fan gear, like the Chudley Cannons have. What do you think?" Draco asked, scratching Dash's head absently.

"I think it's a splendid idea." Luna said, looking up. "Even if you are just creating work for me so I'll be out of your way when we get home." She winked at him.

"Did I ask you?" Draco rolled his eyes but smirked at her.

"No, you asked a ferret." Luna replied. "And you accuse me of being mad."

"When did I accuse you of being mad?" he asked.

"At least six times when we were at Hogwarts and I lost count of how many times when I was in your cellar." she informed him.

"You were singing to invisible creatures." he reminded her.

"Just because you couldn't see them doesn't mean they weren't there." she pointed out.

"And at school, you were outside in the snow, barefoot, feeding the scariest looking demon horses." he shuddered at the memory.

"They were hungry, and I didn't know where my shoes were." she replied.

"Those are not something a normal person does, Luna." he shook his head.

"Who gets to decide what is normal?" she asked. "What if someone said it were normal to stand on your head all the time?"

"I think if a large group of people consider something normal, then it is normal." he argued.

"There were tribes in Polynesia and Fiji who considered cannibalism normal." she pointed out.

"Yes, but they considered singing to invisible creatures mad." he smiled at her.

She rolled her eyes and continued drawing.

Blaise stopped by the room. "The next shipment of supplies to make 3k shirts will be delivered tomorrow. I've got some inquiries out about having them manufactured for us, to see the cost comparison."

"Did you get a couple long sleeved shirts?" Draco asked.

Blaise gave him a withering look. "Of course. I'm off, some of us are out promoting the company while others play with animals."

Draco made a face at him.

"I'm sketching some ideas for other promotional items." Luna said.

"I'm supervising the art department." Draco smirked.

Blaise shook his head and left.

They stayed in the room a bit longer, before stopping to pick up takeaway fish and chips, which they took back to the pitch. They ran in to Oliver Wood at the entrance to the stadium, so Draco invited him up. Fincannon came back, along with Blaise, who brought Penrod. Angelina Johnson and Miles Bletchley came up when the vendor exhibits closed for the evening.

The Durmstrang-Japan match lived up to the hype. The two teams were fairly evenly matched, despite having completely different playing styles. Durmstrang's players were all large built, stocky, broad-shouldered boys who played with power and brute strength. The Japanese team were all much smaller, but played with finesse and grace. They used carefully timed moves such as the Dopplebeater Defense and the Hawkshead Formation to keep them competitive against the much larger, stronger opponents. Draco was able to explain quite a bit of strategy and tactics to Luna. Both teams had excellent keepers, and the match was scoreless for almost two hours. Overall, it was an exciting, low scoring game which lasted nearly six hours until Durmstrang finally caught the snitch, giving them the win.

By this time it was very late, or very early, depending on your view. Draco and Luna bid everyone good night, and began the walk back to the hotel. They talked about how tired they were and the fact they were just going to go to bed when they got back to the room.

The closer they got to the room, the worse Draco felt.

"What's wrong?" Luna finally asked just as they reached the front door of the hotel.

"I don't feel well." he shook his head.

"Do you think it's something you ate?" she frowned in concern.

"I had the same fish and chips you had." he reminded her.

"I have somewhat of a headache myself." she told him.

"A bit sick at your stomach, feel like your heart is pounding?" he continued.

She nodded. "Do you think it's the vow?"

"We haven't ... " realization came to him suddenly. "We didn't have pudding tonight."

They stopped at the front desk and asked to have room service send up dessert. When they reached the room, Draco changed into a long sleeved pullover shirt and pajama bottoms. Luna just stripped off her jeans and laid down on the bed in her tee shirt. Room service brought the tray up within five minutes. They each ate three bites of pudding, and then tumbled into bed, where they fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

Luna woke the following morning with Draco kissing her neck and his hand sliding under her tee shirt.

"Good morning." he whispered in her ear. "I have a problem I need you to take care of for me."

If there was any doubt as to what kind of issue he was referring to, he pressed his hips against her bottom.

"You didn't want me to do that yesterday." she reminded him, turning her head to look at him.

"We were in a public bathroom, which is ... gross." he frowned. "And we were supposed to be watching the match with Penrod. I didn't want to listen to him if we went back there smelling like sex."

She turned to face him. "I supposed you have a point, there." she murmured against his lips.

"You're about to get the point." he smirked.

* * *

After a mutual shower which almost got out of hand, Draco called downstairs for a breakfast tray while Luna dressed. The waiter brought up a message with their meal.

Draco opened the envelope. It was only a scrap of parchment with his father's scrawl which read

_'Please conduct yourself more appropriately in public.'_

It was tacked with a sticking charm to the front of The Daily Prophet. The front page of the paper featured a huge picture of Draco with a very determined look on his face, an obvious bulge in his pants, and his belt and button unfastened, hauling an amused looking Luna with her hand in his pocket toward the lavatory.

**Malfoy Heir Can't Keep His Pants On?**

_an exclusive by Rita Skeeter_

_Draco Malfoy, former Hogwarts star Quidditch player, former Death Eater in Training, Heir to the Malfoy fortune, and owner of the Nimbus Racing Brooms company, just ten days ago was standing at the altar with Daphne Greengrass, middle daughter of the real estate tycoon Robert Greengrass. Mr. Malfoy apparently fainted during the nuptials, and had to be rushed to St Mungos, where he was treated and released two days later._

_However, some time in the intervening days, Mr. Malfoy has in fact, gotten married. Not to Miss Greengrass, however, but to Luna Lovegood, daughter of the editor of The Quibbler Magazine._

_What on earth could have prompted Mr. Malfoy to break his engagement, announced almost two years ago, to a pureblooded heiress with a fortune nearly as large as his own, to marry a common working class girl with no announcement or fanfare whatsoever?_

_Was Mr. Malfoy carrying on a tawdry affair with Miss Lovegood behind poor Miss Greengrass' back? Did Miss Lovegood's father blackmail Malfoy into marrying her?_

_From the looks of this picture, taken at the Junior League Quidditch Championship just before Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy locked themselves in the ladies' room for quite a time, there is obviously nothing lacking in their physical relationship. This leads your favorite reporter to wonder, is the former Miss Lovegood in the family way? Certainly that news would have been enough to cause Dear Draco to faint in the middle of his wedding to another, and reason enough for the rushed, hushed marriage that obviously quickly followed._

_The Malfoy camp has not been forthcoming with any information, so our readers must wait and see if Mrs. Malfoy's condition becomes evident with the passing of time._

"Oh Merlin." Draco moaned.

"it could have been worse." Luna shrugged.

Draco just looked at her.

"They could have captured the moment when Blaise and Mr. Penrod walked in and you were shouting 'Put you other hand in and take a hold of it'" she told him.

The two looked at one another, and then burst into laughter.


	12. Chapter 12

Another delivery arrived a few minutes later, the supplies to make a thousand more shirts. Draco opened the packages and dug through until he found a long sleeved shirt.

"Would you do one of these for me first?" he asked.

"You don't ever wear short sleeves, do you?" Luna tilted her head at him.

He snorted. "No. Of course not."

She seized his left arm. He tried to pull away, but she refused to let go. She pushed up the sleeve, and traced the outline of the Dark Mark, now faded to a pink scar.

"You're one of them?" he sneered.

"One of what?" she looked at him, slightly confused.

"One of those girls who thinks there's something piquant about a man with a Dark Mark." he snapped.

"What do you mean?" she frowned slightly.

"After the war, women ... " he shook his head. "There were some who thought there was some great appeal to chasing Death Eaters. Especially older women who wanted to brag about having a dangerous younger man. Greg Goyle thought he had hit the jackpot."

"You didn't appreciate their attention." she said softly, her fingertip moving down to trace the lines on his palm.

"I had had quite enough of being used by that point." he huffed.

"It's just a scar, Draco." she traced the skull and snake again. "No different than Harry's scar or Bill Weasley's scars. It signifies that you were strong enough to survive circumstances you never asked for."

"It signifies that I belonged to a madman." he spat, again trying to pull away from her.

"No." she let his arm go, but reached up to touch his face. "Voldemort may have had you under his control for a while, but you didn't belong to him."

He looked at her for a long moment, emotions playing behind his eyes, before he decisively turned toward the nightstand, where he collected his wand and wallet.

"I've got to meet with Ambrose Grouseman from Spintwitches this morning." he said hurriedly, not looking at her. "If you can get those shirts done this morning, I would appreciate it. Leave one for me here in the room, and Blaise will get the rest down to the booth. I'll come by and change before I go to the pitch. You've got money if you need anything?" he glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Yes, I have plenty of money." she rolled her eyes and gave him a wry smile.

"Good. I'll see you afterwhile." he nearly ran from the room.

* * *

Draco stopped back by the hotel room after his meeting. Luna was gone, as were the supplies to make the shirts. There were two long sleeved shirts laid out on the bed. He changed into one of them and a pair of denims, which Blaise insisted were perfectly fine for wearing at a Quidditch match, hanging his dress robes in the closet. He looked around the room for a note from Luna, but there wasn't one.

Which was perfectly fine. He had told her she was free to do whatever she wanted while they were on the trip. He didn't need her underfoot. He certainly didn't miss someone he had only been married to for three days and would only be married to for another eighty seven days.

That would just be ridiculous.

* * *

She wasn't at the Qudditch pitch when Draco arrived, and Blaise said he hadn't seen her in the exhibit area.  
Draco watched two matches with Blaise and Penrod, joined for a while by Oliver Wood, before deciding to go look for her. He checked the hotel room first, finding no sign that she had been back. He had decided to go check the stream behind the hotel again when he met in her in the hallway. Her eyes shone with excitement.

"Draco, look what I've found!" she reached into the bag she carried, withdrawing something that looked like a black egg.

"It's a rock." he frowned.

"No, it's a Vermicious Knid!" she informed him enthusiastically.

"Luna, it's a rock." he argued.

She laid the rock down on the floor, flicking her wand at it until it grew to about the size of an adult's head.

"See?" she persisted.

"Now it's a bigger rock." Draco rolled his eyes.

"Diffindio!" she shouted, pointing at the rock, which split down the middle.

"What the hell?" he shouted, pulling her backwards. "Have you lost what little sense you had?"

She simply smiled and pointed to her Knid. It had opened to reveal something that looked like internal organs. It definitely was not a rock.

His eyes widened. "What is that thing?"

"A Vermicious Knid. They're a shape shifting creature from outer space. They keep trying to come to earth, but they always burn up going through the atmosphere. That's why people don't believe in them. Everyone who sees their carcasses thinks they're just rocks." she explained.

"What are you going to do with it?" he asked, his lip starting to curl in disgust.

"Oh, I picked up several." she informed him, hoisting the bag. "I'm going to write a Quibbler article about them, and I'm going to send some to Rolf Scamander. He's interested in doing a study on them."

"Why is he going to study a dead thing that looks like a rock?" Draco cautiously nudged half of a Kind with his toe.

"There is so much we could learn from them." Luna waved her hands. "They shape shift. We could learn more efficient means of transfiguration. They travel through space. We could learn ... "

"Okay, I get the idea." Draco grumbled. "But if exposure makes my hair turn green or makes me glow in the dark or Merlin forbid that thing resurrects itself in the middle of the night, I will use that as grounds for divorce."

Luna laughed and kissed his cheek. "You're so funny sometimes."

He walked her back up to the room. "I'm supposed to have dinner with Penrod again tonight. Will you come?" he asked.

"Of course." she smiled at him.

He took a deep breath and continued on. "Would you please wear one of the dresses I got you from Twilfit and Tatting? This is really important to me."

"If it means that much to you, I will." she agreed.

"Thank you."

She put the bag in the bottom of the closet, and started running bathwater. Draco got Dash out of the cage and sat on the bed to play with him.

Luna walked back into the room. "Tomorrow I'm going to go over to Sweden to look for signs of Crumple Horned Snorkacks."

Draco looked up, starting to answer her, but was momentarily stunned by the fact she had stripped off her dirty shirt and jeans and was walking around in her underwear. She went back into the bathroom. He shoved Dash back into the cage and started to follow her.

"Luna, I don't think it's a good idea for you to go alone." he began.

She bent down to check the temperature of the sudsy water in the tub. Apparently satisfied, she turned off the tap and stood, hands moving to unfasten the front clasp of her bra.

Draco clapped his hand over his eyes. "Luna!"

"What?" she asked, her voice sounded puzzled. "It's not like you haven't seen, and touched, and kissed and ... "

He interrupted her with a groan, whirling around.

"You're very confusing Draco." she informed him, walking around to stand in front of him in nothing but pink knickers. "You say things to indicate that you don't want me, but your body indicates that you do."

He followed her eyes down to where his jeans had become uncomfortably tight.

"We are married." she continued. "It's not like we're doing anything illegal or immoral."

"How can you be like this?" he asked.

"Be like what?" she frowned.

"Two weeks ago, you were perfectly content in your life and then suddenly you find out you have to marry me, spend three months with me, give me your virginity, and take the risk of possibly having a child with me. And you act like nothing has happened!" he fumed.

"Things have happened." she shrugged, stepping closer to him. "I always figured I would lose my virginity with my husband, whoever that turned out to be. And I did. As far as I know, you treated me well about the whole thing. Of course, not that I really have a frame of reference and would know if you did anything wrong. But I'm sidetracking again, aren't I?" she smiled and continued. "If I had lost my virginity to you in your cellar, by force, then I would have had reason to hate you. But we both know it wouldn't have happened that way, because you're not that kind of person. You wouldn't have hurt me."

"I didn't hurt you, but I didn't stop my aunt from torturing you." he breathed, his hand reaching out to touch her but stopping in midair.

"She would have hurt you worse than what she was doing to me if you had tried." Luna told him. "I can't hold it against you. As for the rest of it, things have a way of turning out the way they're meant to in the end. You can call it fate, or karma, or divine providence, or whatever you like. But some higher power in the universe decided that you and I needed to be married for three months, so here we are. The least we can do is to learn whatever lesson we're meant to get from it."

"I think the lesson is not to make Unbreakable Vows with the Weasley Twins." Draco sniped.

"Perhaps." she agreed. "But I think there's more to it than that."

She took his hand and led him to the bathtub. She slipped off her knickers and sank into the water, holding up her hand to him in invitation.

Draco pulled his shirt over his head. "I mean it, Luna. You tried to change the subject, but I don't want you going and looking for dangerous animals alone." he sat on the edge of the tub to take off his shoes and socks. "Potter and Weasley would throw me in Azkaban without a trial if anything happened to you. We'll stay over an extra day and spend the whole day looking for whatever creatures you want. Just promise me not to go searching alone again."

"You're adorable when you're protective of me." she winked at him.

"I'm not protective of you, I'm protecting my own arse. I have a broom to launch and prison would interfere with my plans." he huffed. "And I'm never adorable. Handsome, dashing, sexy, charming, or even gorgeous. But not adorable."

She just laughed.

* * *

With Luna dressed in a Twilfit & Tatting plum colored evening gown, she looked every bit the proper pureblood wife. Except for the radishes she wore as earrings. Draco wished he had brought some of the Malfoy jewelry for her to wear, but it was too late to think of such things now.

Penrod immediately commented on Luna's eccentric taste, and was told how the vegetables dangling from her earlobes were actually dirigible plums, which open your mind.

Penrod laughed and said Luna could open up any part of her anatomy for him at any time.

"Luna, sweetheart, would you go to the maitre d' and ask if I have any messages? I was expecting to hear from Oliver Wood." Draco smiled at her charmingly.

"Of course." she stood gracefully and walked across the room.

Draco turned to Penrod. "That is my wife, not some Knockturn Alley whore. I've listened to enough of your comments and would appreciate it if you were not to make any more in front of her."

Penrod, rather than being insulted, smiled and stuck out his huge paw of a hand. "Malfoy, I'm glad to see you have the business sense of your father but the backbone of your mother. Your father would have smiled and laughed along had I flirted with your mother like that. It speaks well of what kind of man you are. I'd like to negotiate a contract with Nimbus. You let us have your new brooms a week before they're available anywhere else, and Quality Quidditch Supplies will not sell any other brand of brooms."

By the time Luna obliviously returned to the table, Draco and Penrod were agreed on the basics of the contract.

"What if we have a launch party for the 3k at your Diagon Alley store?" Draco offered. "I'm sure I can get Rick Fincannon to send over a couple players for autographs. We'll have some fireworks, maybe give away a few prizes."

"Brilliant." Penrod heartily agreed.

Luna smiled and squeezed Draco's hand under the table.


	13. Chapter 13

Draco and Luna had breakfast the next morning with the owners of North American Quidditch Supply, who happened to be a husband and wife. They both thought it was wonderful that Luna was taking such an interest in Draco's company, and that she had designed the shirts. By the end of the meeting, the two companies had negotiated for Nimbus brooms to be sold in all 31 NAQS stores.

Luna excused herself to meet Blaise about the next shipment of shirts, and Mrs. Fletcher slipped out to check on their children, who had been left with a sitter. Draco found himself walking out of the resturant and toward the vendor area with Ben Fletcher.

"You're a very lucky man." the Quidditch dealer told him. "Your wife is lovely and intelligent. And it's obvious that the two of you are good friends as well as a married couple. It's refreshing to see a young man in a position of power like yourself who didn't just marry the most beautiful airheaded bimbo he could find."

"Thank you. I think." Draco smiled uncertainly.

"It was a compliment." Fletcher nodded. "I look forward to working with the two of you, and I wish you a long and happy married life." The man waved and walked off toward his own booth.

Draco checked in at the booth, where things were going well, and headed back to the hotel room to change from his suit into his khakis and a 3k shirt. Luna had stopped back in to change as well.

"We're going over to the pitch now?" she asked.

"I'm going to the pitch." he practically snarled. "You can do whatever you want."

"You don't want me to come with you?" she frowned.

"Look," he shoved his hair back from his face. "We're only going to be married ninety days. We're not going to see each other after that. We're not going to fall in love and live happily ever after. So we'll play the happy couple in public when the situation warrants it. After all, it's in your best interest for the business to do well. You'll get that much more settlement when everything is done. Otherwise, we should just stay out of one another's way."

She looked somewhat confused. "I don't care about a settlement. I thought we were becoming friends, Draco. And at night ... "

"We have sex." he interrupted. "That doesn't mean we love each other. Pansy and I are proof you don't have to even _like_ someone to enjoy having sex with them. It means we're two healthy young people with hormones and our bodies function the way they should. It doesn't mean we have to spend all of our waking time together."

She looked at him without speaking. He tucked in his shirt, fixed his hair, and turned toward the door.

"I'll see you later." he called, not really looking at her.

Draco headed over to the pitch. Mr. Grouseman from Spintwitches was the only one to join him in the box that morning. Grouseman had always been a quiet person by nature, so there was little conversation. The match was terribly boring. Elderly Mr. Grouseman actually fell asleep. Draco caught himself at one point turning to ask Luna if she thought a certain cloud looked just like Professor Flitwick, but Luna wasn't there.

The Quidditch game finally ended about lunchtime. Draco woke Grouseman and sent him on his way before walking back to the hotel room.

Luna wasn't there.

Draco found Blaise over at the vendor exhibits and invited him to lunch. The restaurant adjacent to the hotel was crowded, but as the hostess led them to their table, Draco spotted a familiar head of blonde hair.

Luna was having lunch with a red headed man.

"I'm going to talk to my wife." Draco growled.

"Do you want me to order for you?" Blaise asked, looking somewhat amused.

"Whatever." Draco snapped.

Draco crossed the room to stand next to his wife. She was seated across from one of the Weasley twins.

She looked up and smiled before he could speak. "Hello, Draco. Did you have a pleasant morning?"

Draco reached out and grasped her arm. "Come here. I want to talk to you."

The twin stood, glaring at Draco. "I don't like the way you're speaking to her."

"This doesn't concern you." Draco snarled, not taking his eyes off Luna.

The twin's hand fisted in the front of Draco's shirt. "It does concern me when you're acting threateningly toward a lady in my presence."

Draco dropped his hand on Luna's arm, turning his attention toward the twin and discreetly reaching for his wand. "I wouldn't harm my _wife_." He ground out, emphasizing the last word. "But you, on the other hand … "

"Stop." Luna said softly but firmly. "Fred, let go of him. Draco, what do you want?"

"I want to speak to my _wife_, privately." Draco snapped, still staring at Fred.

"Very well." Luna stood. "We'll speak privately. The two of you will act civilly."

"Luna, you don't have to go with him." Fred glanced over at her before returning to his staring contest with Draco.

"No, I don't have to. But I will, if he wants to speak with me. I appreciate your concern, Fred, but it will be fine." She stood, discreetly moving between the two men, sliding her hand into Draco's and gently tugging him away from the table.

Draco took charge, leading her out the front door of the restaurant. She glanced back, noting that Fred remained on his feet, watching them.

Draco did not slow down until he pulled Luna into the alleyway between the eatery and the dress shop next door.

"Why are you upset?" she asked.

"Because my _wife_ is having lunch, in public, with another man. That is not something a _proper_ wife would do." His voice revealed his barely controlled fury.

"Actually your wife was having lunch with _two_ other men." She shrugged. "Does that make me doubly improper?"

He looked at her disbelievingly.

"George was in the loo." She informed him. "Didn't you notice there were three glasses on the table?"

"I didn't look." He admitted with a huff.

"Why is it a problem?" she asked. "I've known the Weasleys all my life. My hving lunch with Fred or George is no different from my having lunch with Ginny."

"Yes it is." He insisted. "Because they're handsome, wealthy, young men. People would see you with one of them and think you're having an affair with him."

"Ginny is an attractive young woman. People could think I was having an affair with her." Luna smiled.

Draco's eyebrows shot to the top of his head.

"I'm not." Luna assured. "I've never been interested in females. But I was just pointing out that it was a possibility."

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "When we go back in, come over to our table and have lunch with Blaise and me."

"No." She shook her head.

"What do you mean, no?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"No means no." She said calmly. "I'm going to finish my lunch with Fred and George. We've already established that I have no interest in having a threesome with them after we eat, so I don't understand why it's a problem."

"You're having lunch with the Weasley twins. Who, I might remind you, are the reason we're in this situation." He huffed.

"They apologized." She shrugged again. "And they're buying. We're in a public place, not doing anything improper. It's no different than if I was eating with you and Blaise."

"Yes it is." He argued stubbornly. "Because neither of them is your husband."

"In ninety days, you won't be either." She answered as she turned back toward the restaurant.

"Luna." He stepped around in front of her. "Come to the Quidditch matches with me this afternoon."

"No." She sidestepped him and continued walking. "Thank you for the invitation, but you were right this morning. We're not going to see each other anymore when the marriage is over, so we shouldn't get attached."

He watched in surprise as she rounded the corner and disappeared.


	14. Chapter 14

Draco took several minutes to calm himself before returning to his table with Blaise, where he glared daggers at Luna and the twins, who ignored him,

He was jarred back into the moment by Blaise tapping him on the head with a spoon.

"What the hell was that for?" Draco snapped.

"I've spoken to you three times." Blaise rolled his eyes. "Are we meeting with the Woods this afternoon or not?"

"Yeah. Two o'clock." Draco muttered, resuming his stare at his wife and her companions.

"You are so whipped." Blaise snickered.

"I am not!" Draco insisted angrily.

"Well, what do you call this little jealous bitch fit you're having?" Blaise smirked.

"I don't like the company she's keeping." Draco grumbled.

"So you would act differently if she was with someone else?" Blaise raised an eyebrow.

"Of course." Draco retorted.

"If you say so." Blaise shrugged and took another bite of his sandwich.

Draco poked at his chips, still focused on Luna and the Weasleys, who stood to leave.

"I'm done here." Draco shoved his plate away, tossing a handful of galleons on the table, even though the waitress had not brought a bill.

"I'm not." Blaise looked at him pointedly. "I'll just finish my food, if you don't mind, as I don't have my knickers in a bunch over a woman."

"Whatever." Draco snorted. "Joe Wood and his brother are meeting us at the pitch. See you there."

With that, he stormed out of the resturant after his wife and her friends. He followed them far enough to realize they were headed back to the vendor exhibits. He thought of continuing after them, confronting Luna again and asking her to come with him, but then thought twice of what he was doing.

She would think Blaise was right, and he was having some sort of pathetic jealous fit. Even more, the twins would realize it.

Draco very determinedly turned and walked toward the pitch.

Lucius Malfoy's mantra was "Whomever cares the least, wins." The concept had been force-fed to Draco practically since birth, and especially when young Draco might show some sign of weakness, of interest in something or someone.

He was going to win this one, because he did not care about Loony Lovegood or whatever she might be doing with The Weasley twins. He had only eighty four days left to be married to her.

He walked briskly to the pitch, seated himself, and managed to order a firewhiskey on the rocks from the waiter without biting the poor man's head off. Much.

Joe and Oliver Wood came in with their mother a few minutes later, and Blaise shortly behind them. Had he been in a better mood, Draco would have honestly liked the younger Wood brother, and if he would admit it to himself, the older one as well.

"Will anyone else be joining us?" Blaise asked tactfully.

"No, just us." Oliver smiled sadly. "Our dad was killed in the war."

Draco and Blaise both murmured their apologies before Blaise began the contract negotiations. The deal was relatively easy to arrange, as Joe was not allowed to earn more than a certain amount of money without losing his amateur status, which would have made him ineligible to play his last two years at Hogwarts.

Draco sat quietly, staring at the game, frowning, while Blaise worked out the finer points of the contract with Oliver, who was a surprisingly shrewd businessman.

"That was a great shot, wasn't it, Mr. Malfoy?" Joe leaned in to ask.

Draco shook his head. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Just now, when Romania's chaser spun around and made the goal between the two American Mid-West beaters." Joe pointed at the pitch.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see it." Draco frowned and looked over at where Blaise and Oliver were scribbling on parchment.

Blaise smirked at Draco. "Don't mind him. He's a bit distracted."

"It's fine." Draco glared at Blaise.

"Where's Luna this afternoon?" Oliver asked, glancing around the box.

"I have no idea." Draco ground out through clenched teeth.

"Ah." Oliver nodded and smirked as well. "You had an argument."

"It's really not relevant to why we're here." Draco said, still barely holding his temper.

"Oh, young love." Mrs. Wood spoke for the first time since they were all introduced. "It's amazing how one person can bring out the best and the worst in you."

"It's not ... " Draco began, but Oliver spoke over him.

"You know, I never would have pictured you and Luna together. But it works. You're grounded enough to be good for her, and she's dreamy enough to keep you from being too dried out and dull. And you're both such solid supporters of one another. She's talking up Nimbus and your accomplishments with the company, and you've been quick to point out that she's the artist behind the new 3k merchandise." Wood gave Draco an admiring look. "You know, looks, brains, sense of humour and all that are highly rated, but I'd love to find a woman who believed in me the way Luna believes in you."

Oliver turned back to the contract, ending the conversation.

Draco turned back to the match, wondering about what Wood had said. Did Luna really believe in him that much? No one else really believed in him. His own family expected him to fail the Dark Lord and die.

Mrs. Wood, obviously misunderstanding Draco's contemplative silence, leaned over and patted his hand. "Go find her, sweetums, and make up. Everything is fine here."

Draco sighed, stood, and told them he would be back. Oliver stood and clapped Draco on the shoulder, nodding encouragingly. Blaise flashed a smirk that Draco knew meant he wouldn't be hearing the end of this for a long time.

He made his way back to the hotel room, but Luna wasn't there. He let Dash out to run around the room for a few minutes before returning the ferret to his cage. Draco hung around a little longer, telling himself that he was _not_ waiting for Luna.

Finally, cursing, he stood, put a glamour on himself, and walked down the the vendor exhibit area. He did not care what Luna may or may not be doing with the Weasley twins. He just wanted to know if she was still with them.

He ambled through the exhibit area, taking a roundabout course past the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes booth.

Luna was nowhere in sight.

He cursed himself, telling himself that he didn't care where Luna was or what she was doing. She could even be dancing on the counter at the Firebolt booth. It didn't matter because in seven and a half weeks she would not be his wife any more and he didn't care what she did.

As long as he was there, he decided to walk by the Nimbus booth to see how traffic was. He rounded the corner of the displays, and stopped short.

Luna was at the Nimbus booth.

Draco flattened himself against a wall to watch her. A teenage boy, obviously one of the tournament players, handed her a muggle marker, and she wrote something on his shirt.

Draco felt his temper flaring again, as he cast a non-verbal magnifying charm to hear what she was saying to the young man.

"... think the 3k is amazing, you should see some of the other brooms we have in the development stage."

"No, I can't give away any secrets, but there are several more advanced brooms in the development stage. Draco is a genius when it comes to brooms."

The boy thanked her and left the booth. Draco stepped out at the young man approached and pointed at the ink on the shoulder on the player's shirt.

"She signed your shirt?" Draco frowned, staring at the name "Luna Malfoy."

"Yeah, isn't it cool?" the young man gushed. "She's the one who designed the shirts. She's married to the man who owns the company and designs all the brooms."

"Yeah, cool." Draco frowned.

He took another glance over toward the booth, where Luna was now watching the two of them. He realized the young man had walked away, and turned to follow him.

He took about six steps before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Draco, why are you watching me in disguise?" Luna asked.

He turned to face her, glancing around to make sure no one was watching them, and dropped the glamour.

"How did you know it was me?" he huffed.

"By the way you walk." she shrugged. "It had to be either you or your father, and I couldn't see him coming all the way to Norway to spy on me."

Draco nodded. "Yeah, I don't think so either."

He stepped back, starting to turn.

"You didn't tell me why you were spying on me." she reminded him.

"I wanted to know where you were and make sure you were okay." He stepped back again, putting a little more distance between them.

"You wanted to make sure I wasn't still with the twins." she gave him a knowing smile.

"Potter and Weasel would have my head if anything happened to you." he protested. "And I quite like my head, right where it is, attached to the rest of me, mind you."

He turned and took two steps before her voice stopped him.

"Draco."

He paused but didn't turn around.

"What, Luna?" he sighed.

"There's no law that says we can't be friends after we're divorced."

He froze, stiffening, and turned to face her.

"Why should we be?" he frowned.

"Because I rather like spending time with you." she shrugged. "You're not the same person you were at school."

"Yeah, you're okay too." he nodded.

"Good." she hugged him. "I don't want to fight any more."

He hugged her back, smiling because he had won. She cared more than he did.


	15. Chapter 15

"What are you doing this afternoon?" Luna asked, slipping her hand into Draco's.

"There's one more match this afternoon." He shrugged. "Then there's a party tonight for the players, because tomorrow starts the semi-final round." He looked down at her and smiled. "Would you like to come with me?"

She smiled back. "I don't really have anything planned."

They walked back through the vendor exhibits, past the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes booth. One of the twins looked pointedly at Luna and Draco. Luna nodded slightly, leaning into Draco's side. The twin nodded in response before returning to demonstrating one of their products.

"I still don't like you spending time with them." Draco muttered.

"I know." Luna nodded. "But they haven't gotten to know you like I do. Maybe we should invite them over and have some of the special tea when we get home."

"What special tea?" he asked.

"My father has some sort of special tea blend that helps people to relax and fosters calmness and pleasant feelings. I'm not sure what is in it, but he said once it was illegal in the muggle world." she told him.

"The Weasleys would probably have me arrested if they knew that." He grumbled. "I'm still on probation."

"If all of you would just let go of your hostilities, you might find you could be friends." She looked up at him wide eyed.

"Luna," he sighed. "Everyone in the world doesn't secretly have good intentions like you seem to think they do."

"A lot more of them do than you give them credit for." She shrugged.

"You're just leaving yourself open to get hurt." He told her.

"And you're closing yourself off to keep from being hurt, and missing out on good things around you." She answered.

"Don't fall for me." he warned. "You'll end up getting hurt. This is only temporary, remember?"

"Yes, but there's no reason that we can't enjoy the time we have together." She squeezed his hand. "Maybe years from now when you're settled into your arranged marriage you'll think back on the good times we had and smile."

"Making happy memories now isn't going to change the future." He shook his head.

"No, but it enriches life, both now and in the future." The had walked out into the village green by this point. "Oh look, a blibbering humdinger!" She pointed at a fluttering insect and dropped his hand to walk toward it.

"Luna, it's just a butterfly." He shook his head.

"No, it's a blibbering humdinger." She insisted. "Vermicious Knids weren't just rocks, were they?"

"How can you tell the difference?" He asked, squinting at the bug.

"Help me catch it and I'll show you." She grinned.

She skipped off after the butterfly, leaving him standing there watching. She gracefully twirled and bent and rose after the creature, almost like she was dancing.

"You're not helping." She called over her shoulder.

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, he stepped forward, making a half hearted reach toward the flittering creature.

"You almost had it." She encouraged.

He made another grasp for the insect, which again fluttered just out of his reach.

Luna playfully pinched the back of his leg as he did so.

"Hey!" He shouted, whirling on her.

She giggled and ducked away from him. In a moment, the butterfly or humdinger was forgotten as he chased her around the grassy area. He caught her, lifting her slightly off the ground with one arm while he tickled her side with the other.

"You shouldn't have done that." He whispered in her ear.

"No, I should have grabbed your bum instead." She whispered back.

He laughed. "We would have to go back to the hotel room."

"We could any way." She reminded him. "We're on our honeymoon."

He set her down, turning her as he did, so that he kissed her as her feet touched the ground.

"We could at that." He smirked.

She slipped her hand into his. "We have a couple hours before the party."

They walked back toward the hotel hand in hand. The Wood brothers passed them on the trail, obviously coming from the pitch. Joe smiled and Oliver gave them a thunbs up.

"Luna, was that really a blibbering humdinger or just a butterfly?" he asked.

"Of course it was." She smiled at him.

"Which was it?" He asked, a little confused.

"It was whatever you believe it was." She squeezed his hand.

* * *

Three hours later, he combed his hair for the the fourth time and asked "Are you sure I should not wear the outer robes?" for the third.

'"It's going to be too hot." She assured him again. "None of the teenagers are going to wear them and I'll venture very few of the coaches will."

"Are you about ready?" He called, but the bathroom door opened just as he finished.

Luna wore some sort of gauzy, filmy top with ruffles and a skirt with many layers of soft, sheer material. Her blonde curls had been twisted into a hairstyle that was mostly on top of her head, with tendril trailing down. The sandals on her feet seemed to be more ribbons tied in knots than they were shoes.

"This is what I was going to wear to Professor Slughorn's Christmas party, but my dorm mates told me it looked too summerish." She tilted her head up at him. "Which means it should be fine for this evening. What's wrong, Draco? You're looking at me very strangely."

"If it was green, you would look like Tinkerbell." He studied her outfit. "Are those real flowers?" He indicated the petals that seemed to float between layers of the skirt.

"They are. They're charmed to stay fresh. Although it only lasts a week or so." She waved her wand and transfigured the pale blue outfit into a soft green. "Is this better?"

He nodded.

"How do you know who Tinkerbell is?" She asked, a hint of a smile about her lips.

He flushed slightly. "In my third year, when I started rebelling against my father, I found out that he had tried to have any books that mentioned muggles in a positive light removed from the Hogwarts library by the Board of Governors. I may or may not have started reading said books just to secretly defy my father." He smirked. "Peter Pan may or may not have become one of my favorite books. I may or may not have discovered that muggles had made several movies of it, and I may or may not have watched the Disney adaptation more times than would be acceptable for a teenage boy or grown man."

"I always wanted to be Princess Tiger Lily." Luna informed him, taking his hand and leading him out of the hotel room.

* * *

Luna was, of course, right about the party. Draco was even a bit overdressed just wearing a dress shirt and tie without a jacket.

The President of the International Junior Quidditch League spoke briefly, congratulating all of them teams on matches well played, and reported there had been no serious injuries, just bumps and bruises. Several of the sponsor companies offered additional prizes. The Weasley Twins offered all players a 5 galleon credit to their shop. Draco took the podium and pledged to give each member of the winning team a Nimbus 3k. The crowd, of course, cheered wildly, and Draco was a popular man for the rest of the evening.

After the announcements, the stage was turned over to the first of several bands that would be playing for the evening. The refreshment tables were opened, and the event became something resembling a school dance. There was firewhiskey and wine, but the table was protected by an Age Line, so that underage students were not able to drink alcohol.

Draco retrieved wine for himself and Luna, turning down several players who asked him to bring wine to them. "Sorry, they would probably throw me out if I were caught, and I'm having too much fun at the tournament."

"What is your wife wearing?" one of the Brazilian players asked, looking from Luna to several of the female players, who were dressed much more conservatively.

"She's dressed as Tinkerbell." Draco confided conspiratorily, watching her dance alone.

"Ah." one of the American players nodded.

"What's a Tinkerbell?" the Brazilian player frowned.

"You don't know who Tinkerbell is?" Draco arched an eyebrow and smirked. "I'm sorry."

"Tinkerbell is a fairy." the American player supplied.

"No, she's a pixie." A German player offered.

"I've never seen a pixie look like that." Joe Wood grinned, gesturing at Luna with his bottle of butterbeer. "Your wife dresses up in costumes for you?"

"She did tonight." Draco finished off his wine, saluted the players, and walked across the dance floor to wolf whistles and cat calls behind him.

He pulled Luna into his arms, fitting her hips against his and easily swaying to the Latin beat of the band currently playing.

"You dance very well." she smiled up at him.

"So do you." He whispered. "Is this dress going to come apart? It looks really delicate."

"It's stronger than it looks." She answered.

"Like the woman wearing it." he breathed into her ear.

She looked up at him curiously, but didn't answer.

The song ended, and the band announced they were taking a break, but something called a disk jockey was going to play some muggle music so the party could continue. Draco looked a bit confused until Luna explained that it was like the Wizarding Wireless, except that the program was only going to be broadcast within the room.

The first song was rather fast and loud, so Draco and Luna took a break to have another glass of wine.

The song after that was slower, and most of the players seemed to know it.

"Dance with me." Luna invited, taking Draco's hand.

He led her back to the floor, where she moved into his arms with a grace that suggested they had practiced this many times. He led her through a slow mambo, their rhythm slow and fluid, looking into one another's eyes as if there weren't several hundred teenagers shouting along as they danced alongside.

_I just wanna fly_  
_put your arms around me, baby  
__put your arms around me, baby_  
_I just wanna fly_  
_put your arms around me, baby_

"Of course, it's a Quidditch song." Luna smiled.

"Maybe not." he smiled back before lowering his head to cover her lips with his.

They danced for hours, stopping for another glass of wine several times when they didn't care for the song. The band returned, and Draco taught Luna several Latin dances.

"Dance lessons for years when I was a kid." he informed her. "Because purebloods feel the need to throw a ball for the least little occasion."

The band took another break, and the disk jockey returned. The evening melted into a haze of dancing and wine.

At some point in the evening, they were dancing the mambo again, to a slow and sensual song.

_And when I come home at night and lay my head down_  
_All I seem to think about is you and how_  
_You make me wanna leave the one I'm with to_  
_Start a new relationship with you, this is what you do_  
_Think about a ring and all the things that come along with_  
_You make me, you make me wanna_

Somehow Draco and Luna seemed to be doing more kissing than dancing by that point.

"Get a room." someone muttered to Draco's back.

He lifted his head and looked at Luna. "We do we have one."

"What are you waiting for?" she whispered.

He led her across the dance floor, out the side door and into the alley.

Then he pressed her against the wall and kissed her again. Her arms circled his neck and one of her legs came up to wrap around his.

A light flashed somewhere nearby.

"Come on, Tinkerbell." He murmured into her hair. He moved to the center of the alley, pulled her against them, and apparated both of them back to the hotel.

* * *

The following morning, they were both moving slowly due to a lack of sleep and aftermath of a lot of wine and a lot of physical exertion.

Draco flooed downstairs to order room service breakfast and then crawled back into bed to snuggle with Luna some more.

The waiter knocked twice before Draco dragged himself from the bed, pulled on his pajama bottoms, and answered the door.

The uniformed man rolled the cart into the room, offered Draco a bill to sign, and then handed him an envelope with his father's familiar scrawl.

Draco sighed, and opened the envelope to find a copy of the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. Something dropped to the floor, but Draco didn't bother to look because his attention was drawn to the pictures on the front of the paper.

There was one of him nose to nose with a Weasley twin in the resturaunt. There was another of him dragging Luna out of the diner, and then one of him eating with Blaise and glaring at Luna and the twins. The row below had three more pictures, one of him approaching Luna as she danced along on the floor, one of them moving together sensually, and one when he had pressed Luna against the wall in the alley.

He turned toward the bed to speak to Luna, but before he could open his mouth, the howler that had fallen to the floor flew up and began to snarl in Lucius' voice.

"Draco Malfoy, you have been raised to conduct yourself appropriately in public. If this is how you conduct yourself while married to a blood traitor, perhaps it would be best to end the marriage at this point and take your chances with the curse. DO NOT make me come over there!"

The red envelope burst into flames and then dissolved into ashes that rained onto the plush carpet.

Draco sighed, running his hand over his face and through his hair.

* * *

A/N - the songs quoted are Fly by Sugar Ray and You Make Me Wanna by Usher. I don't own those either. :(


	16. Chapter 16

"I'm sorry , Draco." Luna said softly.

He slammed his fist into the wall beside the door, then leaned against it.

Two small arms slipped around his waist.

"What did the article say?" she asked, laying her head against his back.

"Just some rubbish about us having a fight yesterday, speculating that I had realized I made a mistake in marrying you, then making a big deal of our dancing last night, saying that apparently all is forgotten between us at bedtime." He grumbled.

"It must have been a terribly slow day for news, if Rita Skeeter couldn't come up with anything more salacious than to report on a man dancing with his own wife." Luna observed.

"You have a point." He muttered.

"You can't live your life by what your father thinks, Draco." She continued.

"You obviously haven't been a Malfoy very long." He snorted. "The _only_ thing that matters is what my father thinks."

"Someone who truly loves you would try to understand how you feel and would want you to be happy." She squeezed him slightly.

He turned to face her, burying his face in her hair. "Malfoy love is conditional. It always has been, it always will be."

"Maybe you're underestimating your parents." She offered.

"Maybe you're still seeing good in people that doesn't exist." He answered sadly.

* * *

Luna ate while Draco picked at his breakfast. They took their time getting dressed as they didn't have any meetings scheduled for the day. They walked through the vendor exhibit area to check on the booth before heading to the Quidditch pitch.

"Mr. Malfoy!" A balding overweight man jogged up to them. "I'm Mac Carneiro, reporter for Witch Weekly. I wondered if you had any comment on the Rita Skeeter article in The Daily Prophet today."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Only that Skeeter must really be desperate for something to write about. Was there nothing else going on in the wizarding world, that she resorted to writing about a man and his wife dancing on their honeymoon?"

"So you haven't decided that you made a mistake in marrying Luna Lovegood and you're not on the verge of divorce?" The reporter fumbled for his quill and notebook.

"Of course not." Luna shrugged. "We had a minor disagreement yesterday, and we made up later. We're no different than anyone else."

"Is that true, Mr. Malfoy?" The reporter turned to Draco for confirmation.

"Absolutely." Draco smiled at Luna. "We were shocked that anyone made such a fuss over it. But then again, Skeeter has long been known to exaggerate stories for her own purposes."

"What about Skeeter's claim that you're already expecting?" The reporter scribbled furiously.

"We've only been married a week." Draco shook his head. "Give us a little time to get used to being married first."

"What are the plans for Nimbus from here?" Carneiro asked.

"We're very excited over the public reaction to the 3k. We're looking forward to having the release party in a little over four weeks. There's going to be a merchandise line launched at the same time that we believe is going to please Nimbus fans of all ages. Then I'll be back to work designing new models." Draco paused to allow the reporter to catch up. "That's why Nimbus is the industry leader in racing and competitive brooms. We keep moving forward."

"Can you tell me any more about the merchandise line coming out?" The poor man was practically drooling.

"Not yet." Draco winked. "But I'll make sure you get an invitation to the press conference when we announce the new products."

"Thank you so much, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy." Carneiro enthusiastically shook their hands. "This will be a feature article in our next issue."

"Thank you. It's nice to get some good press for a change." Luna smiled radiantly, taking Draco's hand and leaning into his side.

The reporter scurried off, and the couple leisurely walked over to the Quidditch pitch.

The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully. They watched the matches. Draco explained Quidditch and Luna explained the difference between wrackspurts and nargles and why crumple horned snorkacks were so hard to find.

Hogwarts defeated Brazil and Uganda upset Durmstrang to move to the championship game, which would be played the following day.

Draco and Luna ate at the steakhouse near the hotel, and walked for a while under the stars before returning to the hotel room, where they played with Dash for a while.

"I think we've done well, for a week of marriage." Luna smiled. "No major disasters any way."

"I've made the front page of the Prophet in a negative light twice in three days." Draco snorted. "Maybe not a major disaster, but certainly not without incident."

"People will forget about all that as soon as something more interesting comes along." Luna shrugged.

"How do you do that?" He frowned. "How is it that nothing bothers you?"

"You have to learn to let things go." She told him. "If I worried about every time someone called me Loony I would have gone crazy long ago. Most of the time they're just things said by people trying to make themselves look or feel better. The people who really know who I am, who really care about me, don't say those things. Why should I worry about people who don't care about me?"

"Because the things they say can damage your reputation, and that can affect your life." Draco answered, looking thoughtful.

"Maybe, but probably not as much as you think. If you're a good person, people will see that, despite what others say about you." She assured.

"I'm not a nice person." He shook his head.

"You're a lot better than you give yourself credit for." She smiled, slipping her arms around him.

* * *

They rose early the next morning to get to the pitch. A lot of spectators arrived only to see the championship game, so it was a bit more crowded than it had been all week.

Draco told her about the uproar at the World Cup during his fourth year. Luna shuddered and told him she was glad Voldemort was gone.

The final game was everything a championship match should be, evenly matched, close in scoring, and stretching out over most of the day. Luna expressed concern over the players flying in the sun so long, but Draco explained to her how much cooler it was in the air. The referees still called time out several times and made the teams drink water to keep hydrated.

Finally, late in the day, the snitch was spotted. Joe Wood and the Ugandan seeker took off in pursuit, with Joe finally catching the snitch more than an hour later for a Hogwarts victory.

Draco and Luna were invited to the victory party, where there was more loud music, lots of butterbeer, and some champagne for the adults. They were barely there an hour when Draco pulled Luna into the hallway so he could speak to her without shouting.

"Do you want to stay much longer?" He asked. "I was thinking we should get to bed and then get an early start over to Sweden in the morning."

She smiled at him. "You're really going to take me looking for crumple horned snorkacks?"

"I told you I would." He shrugged. "Besides, it keeps me away from my father for another day." He winked at her.

"Thank you, Draco." She looked at him sadly. "A lot of people have broken promises to me over the years."

He squeezed her hand. "I hope I don't."

* * *

A/N - I know this one is kind of short, but I didn't want what happened here to get lost in the snorkack expedition and what happens when they get home and see Draco's parents.


	17. Chapter 17

One of the Malfoy house elves arrived early the next morning to take Dash and the luggage back to the Manor.

Draco asked for several wrapped sandwiches, some snacks, and bottled water to be sent up with their breakfast so they could take lunch on the snorkack expedition.

Luna apparated them to a spot she and her father had explored before, claiming they had seen the tracks but not the animals. They walked around for more than two hours, not seeing any animals other than a pair of rabbits and a few birds. Draco was about to ask if they should maybe try another location when Luna gasped and dropped to her hands and knees.

"What?" Draco asked, dropping to his knees beside her.

"Tracks." she pointed.

He sighed. "Luna, those are dog tracks, or maybe wolf tracks."

"Look again." She told him. "It has five toes. Dogs and wolves and wildcats only have four toes."

"So what has five toes?" He frowned.

"Crumple horned snorkacks." She smiled. "And bears, of course."

"Oh, wonderful." He rolled his eyes. "We're tracking a baby bear. Do you see mother bear tracks?" He looked around.

"These are snorkack tracks." She insisted. "Trust me."

"Do you know how upset I'm going to be if I have to escape from a bear?" He snorted.

"You're cute when you're facetious." She winked at him.

"I'm not being facetious!" He huffed. "I rather like being alive, unmauled, and uneaten."

Luna shook her head, crawling along the forest floor, following the tracks.

"Luna, you're going to come up nose to nose with an angry mother bear!" Draco hissed.

"Bears don't travel in packs." She informed him, pointing to dozens of pawprints in the dirt around the base of a tree.

"So it was a very anxious little bear, running around, looking for its mother." He huffed.

"The pawprints are different sizes." She tilted her head to look at them more closely.

"All right, there were several anxious baby bears looking for their parents." He argued.

"No, I think the bear was looking for them." Luna pointed to a much larger set of tracks that meandered around the clearing and then headed away.

"Great." Draco sighed. "The mother bear found the babies and took them home. Can _we_ go home now before they come back looking for something they lost?"

"The bear left, Draco." Luna assured him. "But if it did come back, you could just throw it a sandwich or something."

"Oh, yes." He snarked. "I feed the bear, it decides whatever I have is tasty, and wants more. So then it eats _me."_

"Just disapparate." Luna shrugged, studying tracks again.

"To where?" Draco asked.

"If a bear is after you, does it matter?" She asked.

He sat down and pouted while she continued to follow the tracks. The smaller tracks never seemed to leave the clearing, but there was no sign of the animals.

Luna took a camera from her backpack and took several photos of the tracks. Draco ate a sandwich. He offered Luna one, but she declined.

She walked back and forth between the small pawprints and the large ones.

"Draco, look at this."

He swallowed the last of his sandwich and walked over to her.

"Look at the large pawprint, and then look at the small one." Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Yeah ... " He frowned, not understanding.

"Look at them closely. The large ones are symmetrical. The smaller ones aren't." She pointed out.

"One of the baby bears has deformed feet." He rolled his eyes.

"No, all of the small ones are like that. The big ones and the small ones were made by two different species." Her voice nearly squeaked.

He knelt down to study them, and realized she was right. Once you really looked at them, the pawprints were different.

"Yes, they're different." He agreed. "But you only have pawprints, not an animal."

"This is very near the place we saw the prints before." Luna frowned in thought. "And the tracks don't leave the clearing. So where are the snorkacks?"

"Maybe they disapparated because the bear was chasing them." He offered.

"Humans and Umgubular Slashkilters are the only creatures that can apparate." She answered.

"Well maybe Crumple Horned Snorkacks can, since no one has ever truly studied them." He continued stubbornly. "Or maybe they can turn invisible like wrackspurts. Or maybe we're just looking in the wrong place."

She looked at him for a long moment before a smile spread across her face. "I think you're right."

She turned to the cedar tree behind her and began to climb.

"Luna!"

She didn't look back. He watched her climb for a few minutes before starting after her.

"When you fall out of a tree and break your neck, the Prophet is going to make me out to be a really bad husband!" He grumbled.

She laughed.

She stopped and sat in the first fork in the tree, waiting for Draco to join her.

She looked up and raised her wand. "Lumos Maxima."

Her face broke into a huge smile, and she let go of the tree with her other hand to point.

Draco grabbed her around the waist, opening his mouth to scold her, when he caught movement from the corner of his eye and nearly fell himself.

They weren't alone in the tree.

"We found them." Luna whispered.

"Luna, they're sheep." He sighed. "They have horns, but they're sheep."

"Sheep don't climb trees." She shook her head.

"Sheep in the mountains climb mountains." He argued. "Maybe these are a species of sheep that have adapted to their environment and learned to climb trees."

"Do sheep have purple ears?" She grinned.

"I don't know!" He huffed. "I've never studied a sheep's ears!"

"Shhh!" She shushed him. "You'll wake them."

"I'm a lot better about waking a sleeping sheep than I would be about waking a sleeping bear." He informed her.

"But if you startle them, they might fall." She reminded him.

"All right, I will not wake up sleeping mutant tree sheep with horns and purple ears." He held on to her while took her camera out and took pictures.

"This is why no one found them before." She gushed. "No one thought to look in trees, and no one realized they were nocturnal!"

"I still say they're sheep." Draco said stubbornly.

She lowered the camera to reach out and slip a small creature's foot from beneath its body.

"Those are not sheep hooves." She announced triumphantly.

She was right. Instead of hooves, the animals had five toed paws.

The little thing made a whimpering noise. A larger animal next to it, probably its mother, opened one eye and made a sound that was somewhere between a bleat and a growl.

"I'm sorry." Luna apologized and let go of the paw. "I won't hurt your baby."

"Those are really crumple horned snorkacks?" He asked in amazement.

"Yes." She nodded, and then more enthusiastically as the reality sank in. "Yes!" Her face dropped slightly. "I've got to owl Daddy and Rolf. They will have to be studied at night to be seen in their natural environment. I wish I could see them."

Draco leaned his head back against the tree. "We could see about finding a hotel room and sleep for a few hours, and then come back at dusk." He offered.

"Really?" Luna gasped.

"Do you have any idea how much it's going to irritate Harry Potter that I helped discover Crumple Horned Snorkacks and he didn't?" Draco crowed triumphantly. "And I'll bet I get some celebration sex." He arched an eyebrow at her.

"You're so rotten." Luna laughed.

"And you're stuck with me for 82 more days." He kissed her cheek.

* * *

A/N - Yes, it's short again, but I was excited about snorkacks so I had to go ahead and post it.


	18. Chapter 18

Draco and Luna apparated into town, where they found a small hotel. Draco paid for a room and two mild sleeping draughts. Luna sent owls to her father and Rolf Scamander, asking both of them to meet them at the hotel later that afternoon.

Draco and Luna took a nap, courtesy of the sleeping potions, because other wise Luna would have been too excited to sleep. They woke a few hours later, had a light meal, and met Scamander and Mr. Lovegood an hour before sunset.

Draco started to regret staying over another day about the fifteenth time Luna or one of the other said "I can't believe we/you found them!"

The group apparated to the clearing where Draco and Luna had found the creatures. Rolf set up a small tent and then disillusioned it. He instructed each person to disillusion themselves.

They waited quietly at the edge of the clearing until the snorkacks began making their way out of the trees just as the sun set. The animals sniffed the air, as if they caught the scent of the explorers, even if they couldn't see anyone. Apparently satisfied nothing harmful was lurking, some of the smaller creatures began to eat grass or low hanging leaves. Some of the larger ones used their horns to dig up shallow roots. The creatures padded around the clearing, behaving much like ordinary sheep.

Draco was about to ask how long they intended to stay and watch, when he felt Luna's hand, which had been holding his, slide up his arm to cup his neck and tip his head closer to her.

"Thank you." she whispered in his ear, and then placed a kiss that landed half on his cheek and half on his ear, as she couldn't see him.

He slipped his arm around her and squeezed gently. She snuggled into his side to watch the snorkacks.

* * *

They watched until nearly dawn, when the sleepy animals made their way back up the trees, presumably to go to sleep.

Rolf disassembled and packed the tent with practiced precision. They walked a short distance from the clearing to apparate back to the hotel, as not to startle the snorkacks.

"I can't believe we found them!" Luna gushed, yet again.

"I can't believe they're so boring." Draco drawled. "The way you've been talking about them for years, I expected them to breathe fire or walk on water or something."

"That's exactly why some species are still being discovered." Rolf pointed out. "Anyone who previously stumbled upon snorkacks probably didn't look closely enough to realize they weren't just sheep. It's a testament to how open minded Luna is that she spotted the differences."

"And her intelligence." Her father smiled. "I never thought to look in trees for them, and I never suspected they would be nocturnal. Apparently the accounts we had of prior sightings were of an odd creature awake and on the ground during the day."

They found a table in the teashop, and ordered a light breakfast. Rolf, Xeno, and Luna talked excitedly while Draco tried to keep up and not fall asleep.

Rolf announced he was going to end his current expedition in the rainforest of South America studying Scarlet Winged Warbling Waldillas to come to Sweden to and set up a camp to study the snorkacks.

"I'll need an assistant." He added, looking between Luna and her father.

"You go." Xeno smiled indulgently at his daughter. "I need to be home, running the Quibbler. They're your creatures, you discovered them."

Luna looked from Draco to her father. "No, Daddy. You go. This is your dream. I just got married. I'll stay with Draco for now, and run The Quibbler." She glanced over at Draco again. "Maybe in a few months, if Rolf is still there, I'll trade places with you."

Draco and Xeno both looked at her in shock.

"But honey, this was your dream too." Xeno shook his head.

"It was your dream long before it was mine." Luna told him. "Besides, I saw them first."

"Well, then." Rolf turned to Xeno, pulling out a parchment and a muggle ink pen. "We need to make a list of supplies."

"Draco and I are going to go up and get some rest." Luna announced, tugging at her husband's hand. "We've got to get back home in a few hours."

"Right then," Xeno nodded, already caught up in planning and not looking at her. "I'll see you before you leave?"

"Of course, Daddy." She smiled.

"Rolf, good to meet you." Draco shook the man's hand and then turned to his father in law. "Always good to see you."

Xeno offered his left hand to shake, busy writing with the other.

Draco and Luna made their way back upstairs to their room.

He turned to her as soon as the door closed behind him. "You know this is not a normal marriage. You don't have to stay with me. You could go watch snorkacks eat and sleep."

She stepped closer, putting her arms around him. "I promised you a line of promotional merchandise. I need to be with you so we can get that done. Besides, we know where the snorkacks are now. I can go see them whenever I want, right?"

"I suppose." He kissed her. "Are you going to have time to work on the promotional items and run The Quibbler?"

"I should, as long as I get enough correspondent articles so that I don't have to write too many myself." She shrugged. "And I'm sure I'll get lots of reports from Daddy and Rolf to publish."

He nodded.

"I didn't get my celebration sex yet." She teased.

"You're stealing my lines." He laughed and pulled her toward the bed.

* * *

They took another nap before flooing back to the Manor.

Narcissa met them in the parlor, hands on her hips.

"You stayed another day, with just an owl saying you weren't coming?" She asked.

"Mother, I'm grown and married. I didn't see that staying another day in Sweden would be an issue." Draco grumbled.

"It wouldn't have been, except that we had the Greengrasses for dinner last night. Astoria was most disappointed that you weren't here." Narcissa sniffed.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm so sorry for her. Could Luna and I please go wash up and change clothes now? We spent all night in a forest." He continued at his mother's horrified look. "We took showers and used cleaning spells on our clothes, but it's not the same."

"I should say not." Narcissa winced, stepping well out of their way.

They went upstairs and took a long leisurely bath in the tub big enough for two, or more accurately, six. They had just gotten out, dried off, wrapped in robes, and laid down when an elf came up to inform them that Miss Luna had a guest, one Neville Longbottom.

They dressed quickly, and came downstairs. Neville waited in the green sitting room, and rushed to her when Luna came through the door.

"Luna, are you all right?" He asked, holding her at arms' length, looking her over. "You were supposed to be back two days ago."

"I'm fine, Neville." She smiled. "The most wonderful thing happened! We found the crumple horned snorkacks!"

"You did? Congratulations!" He smiled at her, and then scowled over her shoulder at her husband. "Why are you here, and not there studying them?"

"Oh, I'll go back later." She assured. "I have some things here to take care of first, and then I'll go back to Sweden to study them further."

"Are you sure that you were the one who wanted to come back?" Neville continued to stare daggers at Draco. "You weren't forced to come back?"

"No." Draco answered before she could in a voice dripping with hostility. "My wife wanted to be with me." He walked up to stand beside her, slipping an arm around her with his hand resting on her hip. "Is that so surprising?" He moved his hand from her hip to rest on her bum.

Luna jumped and blushed, looking from Draco to Neville.

"It is rather surprising, actually." Neville's nostrils widened and his eyes narrowed. "I can't imagine anyone who would prefer your company to snorkacks."

"Maybe if you'd ever done more than kiss a girl, you'd understand why." Draco smirked.

"Enough!" Luna held up her hands. "Draco, please go upstairs. I'll be there in just a moment. I'll just see Neville to the floo."

Draco pulled her to him, wrapping his fingers around the back of her neck, and pulled her in for a long, slow kiss before smirking one more time at Neville and heading out of the room.

"Are you sure you're all right, Luna?" Neville asked. "Did he hurt you? Did he force you to come back with him?"

"I'm fine, Neville, really." She promised. "Daddy is going to be with the Scamanders studying the snorkacks. I'm going to run The Quibbler while he's gone. And then when he comes back, I'll go over there for a while."

"Luna, if you need anything, I'll be here." Neville vowed. "I'm not afraid of the Malfoys."

"I'm not either, Neville, but thank you for offering. I promise, everything is fine." She walked him to the floo.

Once he left, she made her way back upstairs to find Draco pacing the room.

He stopped in front of her, a serious look on his face. "You know, if you shagged Longbottom, you could probably get out of the marriage earlier. Then you could go back to Sweden and study the snorkacks and not be stuck here with me."

She took his hand. "I don't have a problem being stuck here with you." She smiled up at him. "The snorkacks will still be there in three months. I have things to do here now."

"But you know, when you're at your father's house, working on The Quibbler, Longbottom could come over there. It's not like you'd have to bring him to the Manor." Draco ran a hand over his face.

"Do you _want_ me to sleep with Neville?" She asked.

"No." He barked.

"Good." She smiled. "Because I think I'd rather sleep with you. His kisses never made me feel like yours do."

Draco smiled at her, a real, honest smile, then picked her up and playfully tossed her on the bed, jumping on beside her.

"I like being married to a Ravenclaw." He joked. "They know all the right answers."

* * *

Draco and Luna took another nap that afternoon, waking in time for dinner that night.

"We're never going to sleep tonight." Draco whined.

"It will be fine." Luna shook her head at him.

Narcissa sent a house elf up to notify them to dress nicely, as there would be a guest for dinner.

"Get used to it." Draco huffed. "My mother is doing everything she can to regain her queen of pureblood society position. We have dinner guests all the time."

They made their way downstairs, and stopped just inside the dining room doorway.

The guest was Astoria Greengrass.

"They don't give up, do they?" Draco muttered under his breath.

"Dray." Astoria's smile looked like a crocodile.

She sauntered across the room on stiletto heels, in a dress that covered less than Luna's bathing suit.

She held out her hand to Draco, who raised it to his lips in the expected gesture, but instead of standing still to receive his greeting, she continued to move forward, pressing herself against him and kissing him on the side of the neck.

"Astoria." He hissed.

"Hello, Miss Greengrass." Luna spoke up. "Do you remember me? We were at Hogwarts together. I used to be Luna Lovegood. Now I'm Luna _Malfoy."_

Luna smiled sweetly while Astoria narrowed her eyes at the competition.

"I do remember you." Astoria smirked. "You certainly haven't changed much since first year, have you?"

Luna ignored the barb and continued to smile. "You know, it's dreadfully cold sometimes in the dining room. Would you like to borrow something to cover up?"

Draco's hand closed around Luna's arm and tugged her to the table before claws could be unsheathed.

Unfortunately, his mother had seated Astoria on the other side of Draco.

Lucius came in, kissed his wife on the cheek, and walked over to the table.

"Miss Greengrass, so glad you could join us this evening." His kissed her hand as she smiled at him. "Draco, good to have you home, son." He clapped the younger man on the shoulder. "Luna." He nodded, and continued down to take his seat at the head of the table.

"Draco." His mother began as soon as the salads were on the table. "Your father and I were talking about having a ball the day your divorce is final, to announce your engagement to Miss Greengrass."

"Isn't it a bit a early to be worrying about such things?" He frowned. "And shouldn't we wait a respectable time after the divorce before my next wedding?"

"That's only for a death in the family." Narcissa dismissed. "But Astoria and I agreed, we need plenty of time to plan everything. We're going to have a dinner party next week, to start the planning. Astoria's parents will be here, and the Parkinsons, and the Bulstrodes. They've planned weddings in the past few months, so they will know the best caterers and florists and dressmakers."

"I've spoken with Pansy's dressmaker." Astoria supplied. "She has a wedding planner who works for her, like an interior decorator but just for weddings. The wedding planner can recommend all the newest and most fashionable trends for pureblood weddings."

Draco glanced over at Luna, who seemed frozen in place, and then his mother and Astoria. "Don't you think it's a bit rude to be discussing my next wedding in front of my current wife?"

"Oh, Draco." Narcissa waved her hand. "I'm sure Luna will be too busy with her precious crumple horned snorkacks to worry about it. Besides, we'll have twelve for dinner without her. Your father and myself, you and Astoria, Robert and Cassandra, Phillip and Evelyn Parkinson, Pansy and Marcus, and Howell and Antonia Bulstrode. Millie and Chris are still on their honeymoon. They're spending a month in Malta, you know."

"You're having a dinner party in our home, and not inviting my _wife?"_ Draco asked incredulously.

"She's not a wife in the true sense of the word." Lucius shook his head. "It's just an unfortunate situation that we have to weather through for the next three months. I still can't believe we couldn't find a way around that damnable vow. But the fact of the matter is, Luna may be a pureblood, but she was not raised as one of us. She doesn't fit in with our society. She doesn't belong here."

"I think you're exactly right." Draco said, slowly looking from one of his parents to the other. "Luna should not be here. Rinka!" A house elf appeared at his elbow. "Please pack Miss Luna's things to be returned to her father's house."

The elf nodded and disapparated on the spot.

Draco glanced over at Luna, who looked down at her plate. The change in her posture and body language was so slight, only someone who knew her well would notice. He realized for the first time that she had not been completely unaffected by the teasing and pranks at Hogwarts. She had simply worked at appearing that everything didn't bother her.

"Dimpy!" he called, and another house elf appeared. "Please go pack my trunk."

"Why are you having a trunk packed?" his mother asked.

"Because I'm going with my wife." Draco answered, standing.

Luna looked up with tears in her eyes and flashed him the most brilliant smile anyone had ever directed at him in his life.


	19. Chapter 19

There was stunned silence for a moment, the only sound being a soft rustle of fabric as Luna stood and took Draco's hand.

Then chaos broke loose.

"Draco, you cannot leave this house!" Narcissa commanded.

"Draco, no!" Astoria screeched.

"Actually, I can, Mother. I am an adult now." He rolled his eyes and ignored Astoria.

"What?" Lucius rose to his feet. "No, Draco, you are being unreasonable!"

"I'm being unreasonable?" He shouted at his father. "Look, none of asked for this situation, but Luna has been nothing but gracious about it. She's treated the lot of us much better than any of us deserved, after we locked her in our cellar for months and let Aunt Bella torture her! She has tried to be kind and make the best of things, but you've been hateful to her at every turn. I'm not going to ask her to stay here with a bunch of bullies!"

"You're a fine one to talk!" Lucius roared. "You were the biggest bully in Slytherin house!"

"I've grown up since then," Draco snarked back. "Unlike my parents."

"Draco, wait!" Astoria cried. She threw herself in front of them. "I swear I'll be nice to her the rest of the three months, and we won't plan the wedding in front of her if you don't want to. But honestly, Draco, you cannot mean to tell me you prefer her to me! It's Loony Lovegood!"

"Maybe I do." Draco smirked. "She can actually carry on an intelligent conversation that doesn't involve gossip."

"But she's plain, Draco." Astoria whined. "She's not sophisticated and cultured like I am. She wasn't raised like we were."

"No, and she also hasn't sucked every dick in Slytherin house for her own mercenary purposes." Draco shot back.

"You weren't complaining when it was yours I was sucking!" Astoria shouted with a glance over at Luna.

"It was a long time ago, and once again, I repeat, I've grown up since then." Draco squeezed Luna's hand.

She squeezed his back.

"Draco, you are not conducting yourself as a proper heir to the Malfoy name and position." Lucius glared at him.

"Draco, you cannot throw away your future over a situation that will only last three months!" Narcissa pleaded.

"Has anyone stopped to consider what will happen if the Wizengamot doesn't grant me a divorce?" Draco asked. "Or what if they do grant me a divorce, and Luna and I discover we can't live apart because of the curse?"

Both of his parents and Astoria froze for a moment. Draco took advantage of their shock to lead Luna out of the room and up the stairs, looking the door before anyone could follow them.

The elves had packed their trucks, which stood in the middle of the room.

"Where are we going to go?" Luna asked softly.

Draco sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. "Since your father is going to be gone, I thought it might be better for us to stay at your house, so you can run The Quibbler. But if you don't want to, or if he doesn't want us to, we can get a room at a hotel until we can find something else."

"I'm sure it will be fine for us to stay at my father's house." Luna smiled. "You'll get to live in the round house."

"Yeah, I suppose I will." He grinned back at her. "With a ferret."

"You don't have to do this." She looked up at him. "I want you to be sure of what you're doing before you walk out the door. I know how much your family means to you. Would your parents really disown you?"

He shook his head. "Probably not. My father threatened when I resigned from Malfoy Industries, but a few months ago he told someone else that it was the best for both of us. Not that he would ever admit that to me. They will be angry for a while, but they'll get over it." He kissed her forehead. "Thank you for worrying about me. I meant what I said down there. You've treated us better than any of us deserve. And besides, you chose me over crumple horned snorkacks." He grinned. "It was the least I could do to stay with you."

He turned to the house elves. "We're running away from home. Does one of you want to go with us?"

Both elves nodded and said they would go.

"Draco, we don't need a house elf." Luna shook her head.

"My parents will still have six. You're going to be really busy with running The Quibbler and writing your articles for Scamander and working on Nimbus merchandise designs. You shouldn't have to clean house and cook too." He pulled her close and leered before he whispered. "And when I get home, I want your undivided attention."

"You're so spoiled." she rolled her eyes at at him.

Apparently the parents had recovered enough to follow him upstairs by this point, because Lucius began pounding on the bedroom door and shouting.

"Draco, open the damned door!" he ordered.

"Take the trunks and Dash, and we'll meet you there." Draco nodded to the elves.

They disappeared with the luggage and caged ferret with a pop.

"Ready?" Draco asked Luna.

She smiled and nodded, taking his outstretched hand.

He waved his wand to unlock the door, then swiftly crossed the room, Luna in tow, to open it.

"Get back." Draco snapped.

To his surprise, both of his parents did so. Astoria stood in the way briefly, but backed away at the look in Draco's eyes.

He led Luna down the stairs, with both of his parents shouting for him to wait, stop, and talk about this.

"I'm not going to talk tonight." Draco informed them bluntly. "If you decide to calm down and discuss this like reasonable human beings, without being cruel to my wife simply for the sake of being cruel, we will talk about it."

"Draco, if you leave this house, don't expect any help from us." Lucius warned.

"Well, it's good that I don't need any." Draco retorted, helping Luna into the floo.

They left the Manor with Lucius furious, Narcissa begging, and Astoria fuming.

This wasn't going to be over any time soon.

* * *

They landed at Rook House, where the elves had already taken their luggage up to Luna's room and made tea, much to the amusement of Luna's father.

They briefly explained what had happened, and Xeno told them they were welcome to stay as long as they liked, looking at Draco with a new-found admiration. He suggested they all turn in early, as they had all had a big day. Xeno was leaving in the morning, and Draco was going back to work.

As they crawled into bed and turned out the lights, Luna turned to her husband. "Draco, do you think we're permanently married? As in the vow can't be broken?"

He pulled her down onto the bed and cuddled her against him. "Probably not. It's possible, of course, but I think with the vow being made by children and bound by a child, it can probably be overturned at the end of the three months."

"What if it's not?" she continued.

He pushed a lock of her hair out of his face. "We'll make the best of it."

"What about your family?" she asked.

"We'll make peace eventually, no matter what happens. We always have. I love my parents, but that doesn't mean I trust them."

"That's so very sad, Draco." She placed a hand on his cheek. "But it explains why you don't trust anyone else."

He huffed. "If your parents had basically sold you to Voldemort when you were sixteen, see how much you would trust other people."

"I'm sorry that happened to you." She told him sincerely.

"I don't want to talk about it any more." He sighed.

"All right then." She nodded. "Thank you for standing up for me the way you did. I might make a Gryffindor out of you yet." She teased.

"That's it." He said, sitting up. "I'm going back."

She laughed and pulled him back down beside her.

* * *

They rose early the next morning to see Xeno off. Luna's father was as excited as a child on Christmas morning to be going on the snorkack expedition.

He ran around the kitchen, stuffing things in his backpack and spouting instructions and asking questions they had already answered.

Finally, it was time for his portkey, and he walked outside, with Draco and Luna following to see him off.

"Daddy, wait!" Luna shouted as he reached for the old bottle. "You forgot your backpack!"

Draco dashed back in the house and got it for him. With one last kiss on Luna's cheek and handshake and reminder for Luna to print the new edition on Thursday and Draco to take care of Luna, he activated the portkey and left.

"It would have been terrible if he had forgotten the backpack." Luna shook her head as they walked back to the house. "The tent was in it."

"They're staying in tents, and not in a hotel?" Draco frowned.

"Well of course." Luna shrugged. "They want to be as close to the snorkack territory as possible." Understanding dawned in Luna's face. "You've never stayed in a tent before."

"Of course not." Draco shook his head. "They don't make five star tents."

"We'll go camping before the summer is out." She promised. "You'll have fun."

"Right up until you get me killed by a hippogriff or something." He grumbled.

"I haven't gotten you killed by a hippogriff yet." She pointed out.

"I don't' like the word 'yet.'" He huffed.

She laughed and kissed him.

* * *

Draco went to work, where Theo spent the whole day giving the others a hard time about going off and leaving him there alone to deal with all the inquiries following the 3k release. At least Alicia had been back to work for two days, and for the most part had everything under control.

As busy as Draco was, having been gone for over a week, he still kept finding himself checking the clock several times an hour. He told himself that it was a howler from his father he was waiting for, not time to go home to Luna.

He gave up on doing anything productive ten minutes before the office closed. Those minutes stretched out for at least an hour in his reckoning, before he finally gathered his cloak and headed to the floo.

Luna was down in the basement, finishing up the last few adjustments on the edition of the Quibbler that was going to press the following day.

"The house elves have dinner almost ready." She greeted him with a kiss. "Go change out of your work clothes and stay down here with me for a bit."

He came back to find her measuring out an ounce of a potion.

"What's that?" He nodded toward the bottle.

"Monthly potion." She answered, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

"What is that? Some kind of vitamin tonic?" He frowned. "It smells awful."

She shook her head. "It doesn't taste that great, either. It's to relieve cramps, so it has ginger, fennel, and dandelion in it."

"What kind ... oh." He nodded, his cheeks flushing slightly as well. "So you ... "

"Got my period today." She nodded.

"All right, then, that's a good thing." He nodded awkwardly. "But now we're going to have to be careful about birth control."

She nodded.

"I'll take responsibility for it." He continued.

"Draco, I can take contraceptive potion ... " She began.

"No, because if for any reason you did end up pregnant, my family would be convinced that you had done it on purpose to trap me. If I'm the one responsible for it, they won't have that card to play." He pointed out.

"I wouldn't do that to you." She said softly.

"I know you wouldn't." He smiled at her. "But I know my family."

Rinka came down and told them dinner was ready. Luna, with Draco's help, shut down production on the Quibbler for the night. Then they washed up and came to the table.

The elves had prepared a dinner worthy of Malfoy Manor, and set the table with a linen tablecloth, crystal, fine china, and candles in brass candelabras Draco was sure had been swiped from his parents. The whole setting in the Lovegoods' bird and butterfly painted kitchen with mismatched chairs around a battered old table was so incongruous Draco and Luna laughed.

They each talked about their day, Draco about how busy things had been at Nimbus with the public's fascination with the 3k, and Luna talked about how she hoped her article and picture of the crumple horned snorkacks would make this one of the highest selling editions of the magazine.

"You know, you never asked me something." He realized. "You never asked me how we were going to survive if my parents cut off my access to the Malfoy vaults."

She shrugged. "We'll sell a lot of brooms and a lot of Quibblers."

"We ... " He frowned. "You weren't worried about it?"

"No." She shook her head. "We will manage somehow."

"We don't have to." He assured her. "I have plenty of money of my own. I have inheritances from both sets of grandparents, as well as the fact Nimbus does fairly well, and I have a few other investments."

"So then why were you worried about it?" she asked.

"I wasn't. But I thought you may have been." He answered. "Daphne or Astoria would have been."

"Wrong wife." She shrugged, spearing a forkful of roast beef. "But then again, you wouldn't have been in the same situation if you were married to one of them."

"They wouldn't have run away from Malfoy Manor with me." He smiled at her.

"They wouldn't have had to, because your parents would have accepted them." Luna reiterated.

"I hope they'll come to their senses and accept you." He said apologetically.

"It would be easier on everyone if they did, but if they don't, they won't be the first not to accept me." She reached over and laid her hand over Draco's. "I'm just sorry you got caught in the middle. It's going to be a long three months for you."

"They'll come around. Eventually." He told her, hoping he was right.

* * *

That night, as he listened to Luna's even breathing, Draco let his mind wander to what it would be like to stay married to Luna, to go camping instead of to stuffy pureblood balls, and to raise a couple children who could play outside and get dirty.

But he pulled his mind back from thinking such things.

That wasn't how either of their lives were meant to be.


	20. Chapter 20

The next day also passed with no word from Draco's parents.

Luna got up and had breakfast with Draco, even though he insisted she didn't have to. He called her just before lunch to see how the new issue was coming. It was going to be finished by late afternoon at the rate things were going.

He called her back later that afternoon to confirm that she had the run finished and ready for owl post pickup.

"The elves were a lot of help. We actually had everything done an hour ago." She told him.

"See?" he asked. "Aren't you glad I brought them?"

"I suppose." She smiled.

"Good. Now ask them if they'll pack a picnic basket for us, and when I get home, I want you wearing jeans and a jumper." He instructed.

"Why?"

He snickered, because even in the flames he could see her head tilt.

"Because I asked you to." He rolled his eyes. "I want to do something tonight."

Luna agreed and signed off. Draco smiled, knowing neither of the Greengrass sisters would ever agree to go on a picnic in the evening, and possibly not even in the day.

He got home that night and changed his clothes before taking Luna outside to show her what he had planned.

He had brought home another broom, one of their older models that didn't go as fast as the 2500 or 3k.

"I thought we could fly out and have a picnic." He smiled. "I brought you this broom because I got the idea you didn't fly very well. This one is much easier to control than one of the racing models."

She shook her head sadly. "Draco, I don't fly at all. I never learned. I have flown on thestrals before, but not brooms."

He frowned. "You were at Hogwarts. How did you not learn to fly?"

"I had a problem with being easily distracted." She told him with a smile. "I fell off my broom twice and crashed into another student three times before Madam Hooch finally demanded that Professor Dumbledore remove me from class for everyone's safety."

Draco laughed. "I can see that."

"I'm sorry I ruined your plans, Draco." She said contritely.

"No, it's fine." He assured. "Can you hold on to me? We'll just fly out on one broom. Then maybe one day I can try to teach you to fly again."

"I think I hold onto you pretty well." She flashed him a wicked grin.

"You keep giving me ideas like that and we'll just skip the picnic." He threatened with a smirk.

"Why don't we go on our picnic and then explore those ideas?" Luna offered, taking his hand.

He decided to take the older broom anyway, figuring it would be easier to control with two people. He flew them at a leisurely pace, not too high, not performing any of the tricks he might have done to impress other girls, trying to make Luna comfortable and trust him. At first Luna wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his back, but he eventually coaxed her into looking over his shoulder and allowing the wind to blow in her face.

He took her out across the countryside to a cliff overlooking the coast, where they ate their picnic and watched the sun set into the sea.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Draco." She told him sincerely. "I'm going to miss things like this when we're divorced. I think you're probably the best friend I've ever had."

"Nah," He shook his head. "I'm sure the Weasley girl or Longbottom would have been better friends than me."

"They become rather quiet and then try to leave when I discuss certain things with them. You always listen to me. Sometimes you roll your eyes and don't take me seriously, but at least you do listen." She shrugged.

"I'm sorry." He looked away. "I don't think I know how to be a very good friend."

She scooted against his side and laid her head on his shoulder. "You've been very lonely in your life too. I'm glad we have each other for now."

He tipped his head against the top of hers, taking her hand and tracing the lines on her palm. "You've never given me a straight answer. What do you want when we divorce?"

"I don't really want anything from you." She sighed.

"You've been so wonderful about the whole situation, and you do so much for me, but you never ask anything in return. You deserve something, Luna. You need to stand up for yourself and ask for what you want." He pulled her into his lap so that she faced him.

"And you need to stop believing that you are a bad person because of things that happened to you in the past." She looked into his eyes.

"I'll make you a deal. We'll work on it together, for the rest of our three months." He gave a half smile.

"Deal." She smiled and laid her head on his chest.

"Now," He pushed her back up to face him. "What do you want as your divorce settlement?"

She shook her head. "Draco, I don't care about money. You know that."

"All right, that's fair enough, but I still feel like I should do something for you." He leaned his forehead against hers.

"You did something for me. You helped me find the snorkacks." She levered her head up to smack a kiss on his nose.

"That doesn't really count. I was getting ready to give up and go home. You were the one had the idea to climb the tree." He rolled his eyes.

"You stood up for me to your parents." She pointed out.

He sighed impatiently. "Really, Luna. Anything. Tell me what you want from me, and I will do it."

She retreated behind her eyes for a moment, and he knew there was something.

"I mean it Luna." He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips. "Don't suddenly become afraid to talk to me now."

She looked away for a moment, as if summoning her courage, before she looked him in the eye and answered. "I want you to think about it long and hard, think about what it would mean for the rest of your life, before you agree."

He nodded.

"Once we're divorced and you're remarried, if I don't find someone else to marry by the time I'm 40, would you donate sperm to so I could have a child?" She asked softly. "I'm not asking you to cheat on your wife. Muggles have a way of creating a child without the parents actually having intercourse, as long as they have a cup of the man's sperm. No one would have to know except us. I wouldn't want to create problems with your marriage or mess up things with the family inheritance."

"Why would they do that? That would take all the fun out of it." He frowned.

"Well, there are lots of reasons. If a couple wasn't physically able to have sex for some reason, or if the couple wasn't actually together but wanted a child. Or in some cases, single women want to have a child, and there are men who donate sperm to be given to them anonymously." She laid her head against his shoulder again. "I could do it that way, I suppose, but it just feels wrong to me to have a child and not have any idea who the other parent is."

"You think having a child you know is half Malfoy would be better?" he snorted.

"Draco, you're tearing yourself down again." She raised her head to chastise him. "There's nothing wrong with being a Malfoy. There was something wrong with the way you were raised."

"Why are you worrying about this now?" He asked. "You're a beautiful woman. You're kind and brilliant and can be rather funny at times. Men are going to be lined up to date you once you're back on the market. Especially if they think you've gotten a generous monetary settlement from me."

She shook her head. "Why would I want to marry someone if I believed they were marrying me for your money?"

He shrugged. "That's another difference in the way we were raised. I always knew someone would marry me for the Malfoy and Black fortunes. That's just the way it is."

"Wouldn't you rather she married you for the person you are in here?" Luna asked, tapping his chest.

"You're the only one who knows that person." He made a face of resignation.

"I'm so sorry." She kissed him.

He pulled her closer and kissed back. She made her funny little sigh that was only sexy because he knew it meant she liked whatever he was doing. He shifted them so that she was on her back on the blanket and he was over her, his lips moving to her neck.

"Draco."

"Hmmm." He answered, working his way up toward her ear.

"You know, it's still the wrong time of the month and this could get rather messy." She sighed.

He raised his head and grinned wickedly. "Let's go home and get in the shower, then."

He scrambled to his feet, pulling her up with him.

"Really?" she asked, slightly bemused.

"The last two hours have been nothing but foreplay." He kissed her again and smirked. "I'm going to make you finish what you started."

"What _I_ started?" Her eyes widened.

"You didn't ride your own broom, you plastered yourself up against me on mine so I would think about other things we could be doing while this close. Then you dragged me out here to watch the sunset. Rather romantic, right?" He arched an eyebrow at her. "Then you've been kissing me and touching me the whole time we've been here."

"I don't think that's exactly how it happened." Luna's shoulders shook in amusement.

"It's your word against mine." He smirked, pulling her on to the broom behind him.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on, as he flew them home at a much faster speed.

* * *

Unfortunately, the reprieve couldn't last long.

Lucius was waiting at Draco's office the following morning.

"Father." Draco sighed, opening the door and gesturing for the man to enter.

"Draco, I did not come to have another argument with you." Lucius informed his son, declining to take the sear Draco offered. "I just want you to think about your future. I realize that you have no desire to head Malfoy Industries. However, your ancestors from Armand Malfoy who founded the dynasty in 1068 all the way up to myself have worked too hard to bring the company to the level where it is now. You cannot, as a Malfoy, simply throw away everything to ride brooms and play in the forest with unsuitable women, no matter how pleasing they may be in bed." He held up his hand as Draco started to speak. "I will allow you the remainder of the three months to indulge yourself. Sow your wild oats, so to speak. Fuck the blood traitor on every horizontal surface you can find. Get it out of your system. Your mother and I will not say a word. But on September 17, you will present yourself before the Wizengamot to seek a divorce. Our solicitors have already scheduled your court time. You will then marry one of the Greengrass daughters, so we can merge the companies. You will provide at least one suitable heir. If you choose to continue to work for your _broom factory_," Lucius made a face of disgust. "I shall run Malfoy Industries until your son is old enough to take over."

"I can't live apart from Luna right now." Draco shook his head. "The day before yesterday, I was starting to feel ill by the end of the workday, having been away from her all day. You have to understand, how you treat her affects me. If you upset her, I have to live with that."

"I do apologize for any unpleasantness I may have caused you, and I will be civil to her in the future. But you will marry a suitable wife after this ... situation ... is concluded." Lucius sighed. "Keep Luna as a mistress if she pleases you that much. The Malfoy and Black families have plenty of unoccupied properties where you could set her up. Pureblood wives, for the most part, are cold and distant. I didn't say you can't be happy, son. You just have obligations to fulfill."

Draco nodded.

His father turned toward the door, before he turned back to address Draco again. "We're going to have a ball for your mother's birthday, of course. You will be expected to attend. Bring your wife, if you must."


	21. Chapter 21

Draco came home and found Luna laying facedown in the sitting room, feet kicking in the air, writing with her muggle pen, listening to some music he had never heard before.

"What is that playing?" he asked.

"It's a cd player." She looked up with a smile. "It's a muggle music machine that Arthur Weasley charmed for us. My mum used to have some of these songs on an old record player, but it was destroyed when the house blew up. By the way, we're invited to the Weasleys for Sunday dinner."

"Why don't you just listen to the Wizard Wireless?" Draco helped her up from the floor so he could get a hug and kiss.

"Well, with a cd player, you can choose the song you want to hear. With Wizard Wireless, it's just whatever song comes on." She told him. "And this is a muggle singer, so Wizard Wireless wouldn't play these songs."

He listened for a few minutes. "He's not bad." He pulled Luna to her feet and swept her around the room in a waltz. "What is his name? Maybe we should ask if he would play for my mother's birthday ball. That would set all the pureblood heads spinning."

Luna laughed. "His name was Otis Redding. And as much as I like the idea, unfortunately, he died in an airplane crash many years ago."

Draco snorted. "Never understood why muggles think traveling about in metal tubes in a good idea."

"If they knew, they would probably not understand the wizard world traveling through fireplaces or on brooms, either." She shrugged.

His retort was preempted by Dimpy coming in to announce that dinner was ready.

She led him to the kitchen, telling him that she frequently listened to music while she wrote, as it kept the wrackspurts away. They hate music.

Draco told Luna that he had spoken with his father, and that his parents had agreed to back off and let Draco spend the remainder of the three months with Luna in relative peace.

"They're having a ball for my mother's birthday next month, and we'll be expected to be there." Draco shrugged.

"Of course we'll go to your mother's birthday." Luna nodded.

There was a loud pounding at the front door.

"Were you expecting anyone?" Draco asked.

Luna shook her head, and asked Dimpy to answer it.

Longbottom stomped into the room and slammed a pouch and a bottle onto the table.

"What the hell ... " Draco began, springing up from the table.

Luna looked from the items to the guest in confusion. "Neville, what are these?"

"I want you to know what you married into, Luna." Longbottom stood nearly chest to chest with Draco, staring at the husband while speaking to the wife.

"I always thought Divination class was a bunch of crap, so why don't you just tell us what you want, Longbottom?" Draco snarled.

"Your father," Longbottom pointed to the items he had placed on the table. "Came to see me. He offered me a thousand galleons to seduce Luna. He gave me a bottle of wine spiked with a potion to, as he phrased it, ensure her interest in accepting what I was offering. And he offered to pay a hooker to come over and show me how to please a woman so I wouldn't be lacking in that area."

Draco snickered. "Well, obviously you took the money and the wine. Did you take the hooker too?"

Luna's grabbed Neville's arm as he pulled back his fist.

"No!" she shoved her way in between them. "You will not fight in my house!"

"You want to go outside, then?" Draco challenged over Luna's head.

"No!" She shouted. "The two of you will stop this right now."

The two men continued to stare at one another over her head.

"Sit down, both of you and talk about this reasonably, or I'll Bat Bogey both of you." Luna threatened.

Draco and Longbottom continued to stare, each waiting for the other to move first.

"If you want to have sex for the next week, you will sit down now." Luna glared at Draco.

He sat.

Longbottom smirked. "Whipped." he muttered under his breath.

"At least I'm getting some." Draco sneered.

"You won't be if you say another word." Luna informed Draco, pointing Neville at another chair.

"So Lucius came to you and asked you to seduce me?" Luna asked Neville.

"Yeah." he nodded. "He was waiting outside my house when I came home tonight."

"And what did you do?" She continued.

"I called him several things I would not repeat in front of you." Longbottom shrugged. "I told him what I thought of the plan, and threw him out. I kept the evidence so I could bring it here."

"We appreciate your informing us." Luna nodded.

Draco jumped as his shin was kicked under the table.

"Yes, we appreciate it." He grumbled.

"I can file charges against him of attempted extortion." Longbottom announced.

"That won't be necessary." Draco shook his head. "I'll handle things with him. He won't bother you again."

"Neville, thank you for bringing this to our attention." Luna stood. "Is there anything else we can do for you?"

"No," Longbottom stood, realizing he was being dismissed. "I just wanted you to know what your own family is trying to do."

"My father. Not me." Draco growled.

"What's the saying? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" Longbottom snapped. He walked past Draco, who remained seated, toward the door. "Luna, I will see you soon, right? Take care of yourself, and call me if you need me. If you start to feel strange, particularly after you've had anything to eat or drink ... "

"Thank you, Neville." She smiled as she ushered him out the door. "You've always been a good friend."

She turned to Draco after closing the door. "I would tell you that you were being rude, but you already know."

"Yeah." he nodded, looking at the table.

She walked over behind him, slipping her arms around his chest and laying her head against his shoulder. "Tell me what you're thinking." she whispered.

He huffed. "I'm angry at my father for doing this. And I'm angry at myself for not expecting something like it."

"You don't have any reason to be angry at Neville." She said. "He came straightaway to tell us."

"I know." Draco sighed. "I just don't like him being around, knowing that you dated him for so long."

"Draco, it's obvious there was never meant to be anything more between Neville and me." She assured. "You don't have to be jealous of him."

"I'm not jealous!" he flared. "Malfoys are _not_ jealous. If you want to go sleep with him, whatever."He whirled to look at her. "Do you want to go sleep with him?"

"No." She shook her head.

He pulled her into his lap and laid his head against the top of hers.

"My father is trying to tip the odds. To make sure I can get the divorce when the time comes. He's very determined to merge with Greengrass Industries by marrying me off to one of them." He told her.

"You know, there's always the other side of the coin." Luna suggested.

"What do you mean?" He frowned, looking at her.

"You could sleep with Daphne or Astoria. That way the marriage would still be broken, and you would have grounds for divorce." She offered. "You have the wine."

His brows drew together.

"Do you want me to?" He asked.

"Of course not." Luna looked at him sadly. "But if you wanted to ... "

"Let's just let our three months play out and see what happens then." He kissed her cheek and pulled her against his chest again.

They sat there for quite a while, judging by the lengthening shadows.

Then Draco remembered something.

"Did you say earlier that we're supposed to go to the Weasley's house for dinner?"

"Yes." Luna nodded. "We used to go almost every week when I was younger. There's just been so much going on the past several years that we only do it once every month or two now. But Charlie's even going to be home this weekend, so it will be a big to-do."

"What's a Charlie?" Draco asked.

"Charlie is the second oldest brother. He lives in Romania and works on the dragon preserve." Luna answered.

"Great. So is he going to try to tame me, or bring one of his pets to roast me?" He rolled his eyes.

"I don't imagine he would do either." She frowned.

"Has it escaped your notice that the Weasleys don't exactly like me?" He sighed.

"You haven't given them much reason to." She shrugged. "But it's never to late to start over."

"Oh, I think in this case it might be." He predicted darkly.

"Would you please just try to get along for one afternoon, for me?" She pleaded. "You did say you owed me, for being so understanding about this whole situation."

"Stop." He instructed.

"What?" She questioned.

"I am the Slytherin here. I am the one who is allowed to manipulate and plot. Not you." He gave her a mock serious look.

"I'm learning from you." She smiled serenely.

"I'm going to be in trouble by the end of the three months." He chuckled.

He stood and took her hand. "Come on, let's head upstairs."

"You know, you could sleep in Daddy's bed if you want." She offered. "I mean, I know we were sleeping in the same bed in Norway because there was only one bed, but I know that wasn't what you originally intended. If we had stayed at the Manor, we would have separate bedrooms now."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" He asked, stopping halfway up the stairs.

"No." She frowned. "I just thought you might be more comfortable sleeping alone."

"Good." He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder playfully, making her laugh. "Because I've decided I hate sleeping alone. Even if you do steal all the blankets."

* * *

He slipped out of bed, sometime in the middle of the night, tiptoeing downstairs not to wake Luna.

He picked up the bottle of wine, turning it over in his hands. He sat down at the table, placing the bottle in front of him.

His family expected him to get out of the marriage to Luna. Sleeping with Daphne or Astoria would give them legal grounds for divorce.

Scratch Daphne. It would probably have to be Astoria.

And she would probably be more than willing.

But would the vow allow him to divorce Luna?

The longer he was married to her, the less certain he was he could live without her. He had a pain in his chest every evening by the time it was time to leave work and come home.

Sometimes he wondered if it was the curse, or something Luna had done to him, as his attachment to her seemed to be getting stronger, rather than waning.

But Luna wouldn't do anything like that to him.

Astoria would.

He realized that if he did sleep with her while still married to Luna, Astoria would probably do everything in her power to fall pregnant, to solidify her hold on Draco.

While he understood that he would eventually have children with Astoria, if he married her, he didn't want one with her now.

It would be a slap in the face to Luna, and his wife didn't deserve it.

He thought about Luna's request. Part of him hoped that she didn't find someone to marry, so he could have children with her one day. They would be brilliant, with intelligence from both parents, curiosity from her and an analytical mind from him.

Except that no one would know they were his children.

Pureblood society would accept Luna as his mistress.

Astoria wouldn't.

Draco also had a funny feeling that his parents wouldn't, no matter what his father had said.

"There you are."

Her soft voice startled him, causing him to jump.

"I'm sorry." He said. "I couldn't sleep. I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't." She pulled out the chair beside him and sat down. "Well, not directly. I rolled over in my sleep and there was no warm body beside me. I think that's what woke me."

"See?" He smirked. "You didn't really want to sleep alone either."

Her gaze fell on the bottle in front of him, highlighted by the moonbeams shining through the kitchen window.

"You want to go through with it."

There was no accusation in her voice, only quiet acceptance.

"No, I really don't." He answered her truthfully. "I wondered if it would be the best thing for us, but I really don't think so."

"If you want to ... "

He leaned over and kissed her, long and deep.

"No, Luna, I really don't."

She nodded.

"But," he smirked wickedly. "Since my father supplied an aphrodisiac spiked wine, it seems like a shame to waste it. Fancy a glass?"

"No." She smiled. "I'm good without it."

He accioed a glass from the cupboard and poured himself some. "I'm _good_ without it. Let's see if I'm spectacular with it."

"You're still rotten." She told him.

"Some things will never change." He tipped the glass up and finished his wine, then took her hand and led her back to the bedroom.

* * *

"Draco." Luna shook him gently. "Draco, wake up. Your alarm charm is going off."

He didn't stir.

"Draco!" she spoke louder and shook him harder. "You're supposed to go to work this morning."

He still didn't stir.

Luna sat up, fumbling for her wand and quickly casting a lumos.

Draco was barely breathing and felt cold to the touch.


	22. Chapter 22

Luna pressed her lips to her husband's temple. "Draco, love, please wake up."

There was no response.

"Dimpy! Rinka!" she shouted.

Both elves popped into the room immediately.

"One of you take him to St Mungo's. The other get me some clothes and then call his parents." She ordered as she jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom.

Dimpy and Draco were gone when she returned. Rinka had laid clothes and the bed and presumably gone to call the Malfoys.

Luna flooed to St Mungo's, where the mediwitch took her to a waiting room and told her the healers were examining Draco and would let her know something as soon as they knew something.

Her in-laws burst into the room a few minutes later.

"What happened to him?" Narcissa wailed.

"I don't know." Luna shook her head. "He was fine last night, but this morning, he wouldn't wake up."

"Was it something to do with the vow?" Lucius asked. "Did the two of you violate it somehow?"

Luna frowned, considering. "No, I don't think so, because he becomes feverish when the vow makes him sick. He felt cold this morning."

They waited for nearly half an hour before a healer came in with Harry and Ron. All three Malfoys jumped to their feet.

"How is he?" Luna and Draco's parents asked almost in unison.

"He's stable." The healer assured.

"Can I see him?" Luna requested.

"In a bit." The healer said. "Let's sit down and talk about this."

The Malfoys and the healer all took seats while the two Aurors remained standing behind the healer.

"He appears to have ingested a substance that is suppressing his central nervous system." The healer told them. "I need to know everything he's had to eat or drink and any potions he's taken in the past 24 hours."

Luna's face scrunched in concentration. "We had the same thing for breakfast and dinner yesterday, and I haven't felt anything unusual. I don't know what he had for lunch yesterday. You could probably ask someone he works with. He did have a glass of wine last night, but I didn't have any."

"Wine?" the healer questioned. "Did he take any sleeping potion or anything like that with it?"

"No, not that I know of." Luna answered. "He woke up in the middle of the night, and had trouble falling back asleep. I found him downstairs, and we talked a few minutes. He just had the one glass of wine, and by the time we got upstairs, he could barely keep his eyes open. We thought it was just because he drank the wine on an empty stomach. I think he would have said something if he had taken anything else."

"Where did the wine come from?" The healer pressed.

"It was the wine you gave Neville ... " she trailed off as she turned to her father in law.

Lucius had gone pale.

"No," he shook his head. "It couldn't be. I measured very carefully, and calculated in the effect of the wine."

"You put something in a bottle of wine you gave Neville?" Harry folded his arms.

"It wouldn't have done this!" Lucius insisted. "I used a long acting sleeping draught. It wouldn't have made him sleepy that quickly. Something else is wrong!"

"You're under arrest." Harry informed him as Ron held out a hand for Lucius' wand.

Lucius obediently surrendered his wand and held his hands together to be bound.

"You too, Mrs. Malfoy." Harry said gently.

"No!" Lucius protested. "She didn't know anything about it. Let her stay here with Draco."

Harry and Ron looked at one another, seeming to communicate without words. Ron shrugged.

"Fine, she can stay." Harry agreed. "We know where to find her if we need her." He turned to Luna. "Where is the bottle of wine now?"

"At my house." She answered. "It was on the table when we went upstairs last night. If it's not still there, one of the elves can tell you where they put it."

"I'll take him in, you go get the wine?" Ron suggested.

Harry nodded. "And I'll send for Neville. I'm sure we'll need his statement to sort all this out."

"I'll need to know exactly what the substance was, so we can counteract it." The healer told them.

"As soon as I have the information." Harry nodded.

The two Aurors left with Lucius.

"What now?" Narcissa asked the healer.

"As soon as we know what we're working with, I can begin measures to remove it from his system." the healer explained. "But his system is so compromised at this point, we're going to have to bring him back slowly. Depending on what potion he was given, if we flood his system with antidote, we could lose him."

Luna wrapped her arms around herself, biting her bottom lip. "Do everything you can for him." She urged.

The healer nodded and rose. "Of course we will."

He left the two women alone in the waiting room.

"Why did Lucius give Neville Longbottom a bottle of wine, and how did Draco end up with it?" Narcissa demanded.

"Neville came to us last night with the wine and a bag of money." Luna told her. "He said Lucius gave them to him, wanting Neville to seduce me so I would cheat on Draco. Neville wanted me to know about it. He wanted to arrest Lucius, but Draco said he would handle things with his father."

"For someone as intelligent as he is, Lucius does some pretty stupid things." Narcissa observed dryly.

"Yeah." Luna agreed.

They fell into a silence that lasted more than 20 minutes. Then Blaise and Theo arrived.

"We just heard." Blaise greeted both women with a kiss on the cheek. "What's going on with him?"

Narcissa explained that Draco apparently accidentally was exposed to some sort of potion that had heavily sedated him.

"You don't think Death Eaters are involved, do you?" Theo asked quietly.

Luna and Narcissa exchanged a look.

"Probably not." Luna shook her head. "From what we've seen, it appears to be an accident."

"What can we do?" Blaise offered.

"Just keep Nimbus running." Luna smiled sadly. "That's what Draco would want."

Both men nodded. "Of course." Theo assured.

"Thank you." Narcissa said sincerely. "Draco will appreciate your concern, as we do."

"We'll head back to the office then, but please let us know if there's any change, or we can do anything further." Blaise said.

The door opened again, and Ginny Potter came in. The two men nodded to her on their way out.

"Are you all right?" The redhead asked, hugging Luna.

"I'm okay." Luna nodded. "What are you doing here? Don't you have practice today?"

"Harry sent me." Ginny told her. "He said you might need a friend. It's the first practice I've missed in two years. The team will get over it." She grinned wickedly. "I'm sure the fact Malfoy owns Nimbus has something to do with it. They probably would not have been nearly as gracious if I was going to visit a cauldron salesman. So what happened?"

Luna again explained, but this time admitted to the fact that Lucius had put something in the wine, as Ginny would probably hear about it from Harry later anyway.

Just as she finished the story, a mediwitch came in.

"Healer Kearney wanted me to ask you exactly what he had to eat and drink yesterday." She handed Luna a parchment and a quill. "As an exact a list as you can make. He says that what Mr. Malfoy stated he put in the wine wouldn't cause this reaction."

Luna wrote everything down. "We'll have to floo or owl his office to ask what he may have had while he was there."

"I've already sent a message there." The mediwitch nodded. "I'll get this right to the healer."

She left with the list, leaving the women alone again.

Ginny began talking about Quidditch practice to fill the silence.

The door opened again, and Astoria Greengrass came in.

"Oh, our poor Draco." she whined, ignoring Luna and Ginny and walking straight over to Narcissa.

"He's not your poor anything, so just save it and go on." Ginny announced, hands on her hips.

Astoria glared at the other two young women. "He and I are going to be married."

"Or not." Ginny snapped. "But at the moment, he has a wife, so your presence is not needed."

"Who do you think you are to speak to me that way?" Astoria demanded.

"The wife of an Auror." Ginny replied smugly.

"I'm sure if Draco were awake, he would ask for me to be here." Astoria insisted.

"Actually, knowing that we were out here fighting would probably upset him." Luna replied. "I think it would be best if you left for now. If he wakes up and wants to see you, I'll let you know."

"I'm not going to stay here and be spoken to this way." Astoria sniffed. "But you can be certain I will be telling Draco how you treated me."

"Oh I'm sure you will." Ginny rolled her eyes.

Astoria stormed out of the room, leaving the three women in silence again.

Luna's stomach rumbled loudly.

"Have you eaten today?" Ginny frowned at her.

"No." Luna answered. "I woke up with Draco unconscious, and I came straight here. I hadn't even thought about it."

"I'm going to get you a sandwich." Ginny announced, standing.

"I don't want anything." Luna shook her head.

"You need to eat." Ginny argued. "You're going to need your strength. As much as Harry turns into a whiny brat when he's sick, I can only imagine what Malfoy's going to be like."

There was a smothered sound from the corner. Both of them turned to look at Narcissa, who was smiling.

"He's dreadful when he's ill." His mother confirmed. "But his father is even worse."

"How about you, Mrs. Malfoy?" Ginny asked. "What kind of sandwich do you want?"

"Oh no, I'm fine." She waved a hand.

"If you don't eat, you could faint, and then you won't be here when the healer comes back with updates." Ginny pointed out.

"All right." Narcissa sighed. "Nothing heavy, please." She reached into her bag for money, but Ginny waved her off.

"It's fine. I've got this one. If we're still here for the next meal, you can buy that one." Ginny headed out the door.

Narcissa spotted lime green robes as the door closed behind Ginny. She quickly crossed the room and addressed the healer in the hall.

"Have they been able to wake my son yet?" She asked.

"No ma'am." The man shook his head. "He's not responding at this time. I'm sorry."

Visibly shaken, she came back and sat down.

Luna reached over and took her mother in law's hand. "He's going to be fine."

"But what if he's not?" Narcissa asked with a touch of hysteria in his voice. "What if they can't wake him up?"

"I'm sure they will. But if not, then we'll bring him home and take care of him until something changes." Luna answered.

"He doesn't have an heir. What would we do if he never has a child?" Narcissa fretted. "The Malfoy family has continued for over 900 years. It can't end with him."

"He and I could still have a child." Luna explained the concept of artificial insemination to her.

"You would do that for him?" Narcissa asked.

"Yes." Luna answered softly. "But I really believe he will be all right. I just feel it."

Narcissa looked at her oddly, but didn't say anything else for several minutes. When she did speak again, she said, "If you had let him die, you would be free of him and the vow."

"Everyone seems to think the two of us being married is the worst thing that could have happened to us. He and I are actually happy together. We've learned a lot from each other." Luna shrugged. "Neither of us is the person the other would have chosen. Maybe that's why fate had to push us together the way it did. To make sure we got the lessons we were supposed to from being together."

Narcissa regarded her strangely again, but didn't answer as Ginny returned then with sandwiches and tea.

The three ate quietly, frequently looking toward the door.

Ginny flagged down a mediwitch again a little while later, who told them there was still no change.

An hour later, Healer Kearney returned. "We've given him an antidote, but he's not responding. We're waiting for the Auror office to get back with us about an analysis of exactly what was in the wine."

"Can I see him now?" Luna asked again.

The healer looked between the patient's wife and mother. "For a few minutes, I suppose. I'm going to warn you, he won't know you're there."

"I'll know I'm there." Luna replied.

He led the two women down to a room, and paused outside the door. "Just for a few minutes. He repeated.

They nodded.

Draco lay in the bed, quiet, still, and pale. The only sound in the room was the box charmed to thump in time with the patient's heartbeat, which was slow and irregular.

Narcissa approached him on one side, taking his hand, and trying not to cry.

"Darling, we love you. Please wake up."

Luna sat on his other side, laying her hand on his arm. "Draco, you've given us a terrible fright, and I must say I don't like this at all. It's rather like Sleeping Beauty, except that the prince is the one asleep and the girl who runs about in the forest is the one supposed to wake him up, but I don't know how. I do hope there's no evil sorceress we have to battle. We've had quite enough of that already. Did you know that muggles think they made up that story? Of course, muggles don't believe in magic, so it would never occur to them that a curse to cause someone to sleep for many years or an animagus dragon could be real. Do animagus dragons breathe fire? I wonder what your animagus would be if you had one. Your name means dragon, but I don't think it would fit your personality. Or maybe it does. You become rather defensive when cornered and sometimes I believe you could breathe fire. When you were younger, I would have chosen a hippogriff for you. You were very proud and vain and you pecked at people a lot. You're not like that so much now. I think a ferret would probably be a better choice. You're intelligent and playful. Maybe that's why you became one when Professor Moody transfigured you. We'll never know now, will we, whether he chose the form or you just assumed it. What is your patronus? I'll have to remember to ask you that when you can answer me. Do you really think Malificent was an animagus dragon, or was that story changed and exaggerated over the years? That happens, you know. Like Cinderella. As if mice would really have helped her collect all those things. But the Ministry can't admit that she had pet nargles, because then they would have to admit they've lied about many things over the years. They would never admit that, would they? They still deny they had aquavirius maggots in the Department of Mysteries, but I saw them. Your father did too. You should ask him. And for the record, you may be good without the wine, but you were definitely _not_ spectacular with it. I didn't even get a proper kiss before you fell asleep on me."

"He knows we're here." Narcissa said from across the bed. "His heart rate became stronger and steadier since we've been talking to him."

The healer came back. "That's enough for now. You can come back again in a few hours, as long as he holds stable."

Luna kissed Draco's cheek. "We have to go now but we'll be outside waiting."

Narcissa looked at Luna in surprise before she leaned in to kiss his other cheek.

As they walked back to the waiting room, Narcissa looked at her daughter in law. "You care about him."

"Of course." Luna shrugged.

They waited for over an hour longer, before Harry Potter came back.

"How is he?" Harry immediately asked.

"There's really no change at this point." His wife informed him sadly.

"Hopefully that will change soon." Harry announced. "Now that they know exactly what was in the wine."

"What are they going to do with Lucius?" Narcissa asked.

"He'll be here shortly." Harry shrugged. "As soon as they do the paperwork and get everything sorted. He won't be charged."

"Why is he not being charged with anything?" Ginny demanded. "He nearly killed his own son!"

"It was an accident," Harry replied. "and he wasn't the only one who tampered with the wine. Lucius put a long lasting sleeping draught in it, hoping that Neville and Luna would fall asleep after, you know ... " he trailed off, flushing slightly. "And be caught together. Neville realized that if he gave the bottle to Draco, that Draco and Luna might drink it together, so he put a fast acting sleeping draught in it, so they would fall asleep before anything could happen. Either one of the potions alone wouldn't have caused any real harm, but the two of them together were enough to send Draco into an overdose. Lucius is beside himself. He truly didn't intend for anyone to be hurt, especially not Draco. Neville is even worse, because he realizes that if Luna had drunk any of the wine, it could well have killed her."

Luna and Narcissa both nodded, but Ginny wasn't so accepting.

"So the Aurors are just going to let them go?" She flared.

Harry sighed. "Not exactly. Lucius is being released, because Neville stated that Draco had not wanted to press charges last night. If anything changes later, he could still be arrested again. Neville has been suspended and is facing an inquiry before Internal Affairs."

"Why is Neville in more trouble than Lucius?" Ginny folded her arms.

"Because he's an Auror. He knew better than to do something like this, even as a prank." Harry shook his head. "Robards has made it clear to us that Aurors are to be held to a higher standard than the average wizard. Neville let his personal issues get in the way. Neville is my friend, but I have to back the chief on this one."

"Neville is jealous of my relationship with Draco." Luna said softly. "And Draco is even more jealous of my past with Neville. Draco did somewhat goad him last night. If I spoke with the inquiry officers, would it help?"

"Probably not." Harry answered grimly. "He should be used to being provoked. Criminals will do that. There really was no excuse for what he did and even he knows it."

The healer came back and sat down.

"Well, good news and bad news." He began. "We know exactly what he consumed now. The bad news is, it was a very dangerous combination. We're going to have to bring him round slowly to prevent any further damage to his system."

"Damage?" Luna questioned.

"What kind of damage?" Narcissa asked over her. "Is it going to be permanent? What is wrong?"

Kearney held up a hand. "To put it bluntly, by the time he came here, he was in multiple organ failure. Another hour or so, and he would have been dead. We have to remove the substances from his system slowly to prevent further injury. However, we are hopeful that once we do so, we can reverse the organ damage over a week or two."

"So if everything goes the way it should, he's going to be all right soon?" Luna concluded.

"Yes," the healer nodded. "If it all goes well, he will be all right."


End file.
